South Africans are living longer lives than they were 10 years ago‚ according to a new scientific analysis of more than 300 diseases and injuries in 195 countries. However‚ this progress is threatened by increasing numbers of people suffering from serious health challenges related to unsafe sex‚ high body mass index‚ and high blood sugar.
A Global Burden of Diseases‚ Injuries‚ and Risk Factors Study (GBD) was published in the Lancet on Friday. The study draws on the work of more than 1‚800 collaborators in nearly 130 countries and territories.
“The evolving burden of disease in South Africa illustrates the importance of political commitment and evidence-informed policies. Life expectancy plummeted by about nine years to below 52 years in 2005‚ during an era of Aids denialism‚” said Dr Charles Shey Wiysonge‚ a GBD collaborator from South Africa who serves as a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences‚ Stellenbosch University. “However‚ with greater political commitment and expanding access to anti-retroviral therapy‚ this trend has reversed and life expectancy is close to where it was in 1990‚” Dr Wiysonge said. “Policymakers need to build on the current momentum and use GBD findings and other available evidence to increase access to quality health care for all South Africans.”
In South Africa‚ HIV/Aids was the leading killer‚ resulting in 112‚243 deaths in 2015. The second and third top causes of death were ischemic heart disease and tuberculosis related to HIV/Aids‚ killing 45‚119 and 42‚943‚ respectively.
But the conditions that kill are not typically those that make people sick in South Africa. In 2015‚ while the top non-fatal cause of health loss was also HIV/Aids‚ the second and third causes were diabetes and low back pain.
Globally‚ life expectancy increased from about 62 years to nearly 72 from 1980 to 2015‚ with several nations in sub-Saharan Africa – including South Africa – rebounding from high death rates due to HIV/Aids. Child deaths are falling fast‚ as are illnesses related to infectious diseases. But each country has its own specific challenges and improvements‚ from fewer suicides in France‚ to lower death rates on Nigerian roadways‚ to a reduction in asthma-related deaths in Indonesia.
Findings for South Africa include:
-A child born in South Africa in 2015 can expect to live to the age of 61‚ while a child born ten years earlier in 2005 had a life expectancy of 55.
-While the world has made great progress in reducing deaths of young children‚ globally 5.8 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015. Of that global figure‚ 42‚540 of those children were in South Africa. The number of under-age-5 deaths in South Africa in 1990 was 81‚794.
-Deaths of expecting or new mothers have increased in South Africa‚ with the number of maternal deaths in 2015 rising to 1‚754 from 1‚558 in 1990. The ratio of maternal deaths rose from 154 deaths per 100‚000 livebirths to 158.
Unsafe sex‚ bad eating habits and having a baby - SA's health burden
South Africans are living longer lives than they were 10 years ago‚ according to a new scientific analysis of more than 300 diseases and injuries in 195 countries. However‚ this progress is threatened by increasing numbers of people suffering from serious health challenges related to unsafe sex‚ high body mass index‚ and high blood sugar.
A Global Burden of Diseases‚ Injuries‚ and Risk Factors Study (GBD) was published in the Lancet on Friday. The study draws on the work of more than 1‚800 collaborators in nearly 130 countries and territories.
“The evolving burden of disease in South Africa illustrates the importance of political commitment and evidence-informed policies. Life expectancy plummeted by about nine years to below 52 years in 2005‚ during an era of Aids denialism‚” said Dr Charles Shey Wiysonge‚ a GBD collaborator from South Africa who serves as a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences‚ Stellenbosch University. “However‚ with greater political commitment and expanding access to anti-retroviral therapy‚ this trend has reversed and life expectancy is close to where it was in 1990‚” Dr Wiysonge said. “Policymakers need to build on the current momentum and use GBD findings and other available evidence to increase access to quality health care for all South Africans.”
In South Africa‚ HIV/Aids was the leading killer‚ resulting in 112‚243 deaths in 2015. The second and third top causes of death were ischemic heart disease and tuberculosis related to HIV/Aids‚ killing 45‚119 and 42‚943‚ respectively.
But the conditions that kill are not typically those that make people sick in South Africa. In 2015‚ while the top non-fatal cause of health loss was also HIV/Aids‚ the second and third causes were diabetes and low back pain.
Globally‚ life expectancy increased from about 62 years to nearly 72 from 1980 to 2015‚ with several nations in sub-Saharan Africa – including South Africa – rebounding from high death rates due to HIV/Aids. Child deaths are falling fast‚ as are illnesses related to infectious diseases. But each country has its own specific challenges and improvements‚ from fewer suicides in France‚ to lower death rates on Nigerian roadways‚ to a reduction in asthma-related deaths in Indonesia.
Findings for South Africa include:
-A child born in South Africa in 2015 can expect to live to the age of 61‚ while a child born ten years earlier in 2005 had a life expectancy of 55.
-While the world has made great progress in reducing deaths of young children‚ globally 5.8 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015. Of that global figure‚ 42‚540 of those children were in South Africa. The number of under-age-5 deaths in South Africa in 1990 was 81‚794.
-Deaths of expecting or new mothers have increased in South Africa‚ with the number of maternal deaths in 2015 rising to 1‚754 from 1‚558 in 1990. The ratio of maternal deaths rose from 154 deaths per 100‚000 livebirths to 158.
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