Cape Town — New South African government statistics show that the number of reported deaths rose by a dramatic 57 percent between 1997 and 2002, mostly as a consequence of tuberculosis, influenza and pneumonia - often the immediate causes of the deaths of Aids patients.
The government statistics service, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), said on Friday that reported deaths in South Africa rose from 318,287 in 1997 to 499,268 in 2002.
Although part of the increase is a result of population growth and better notification, the Statistician-General, Pali Lehohla, said in a statement accompanying the report that the numbers provide "indirect evidence that the HIV epidemic in South Africa is raising the mortality levels of prime-aged adults, in that associated diseases are on the increase."
"The proportion of deaths in the age group 20-49 is increasing," the statement added - a strong indicator of the role of Aids.
The report was released as Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang assertively defended the government's "Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and Aids" at a media briefing at Parliament.
She said the implementation of the plan had significantly strengthened the health system and had improved its capacity to address HIV and Aids: 51 of 53 health districts had at least one health facility providing services as part of the plan. The government was campaigning to encourage abstinence, being faithful and using condoms, and condom distribution had risen from 17 million to 36 million a month since a re-branding of condoms, she said.
Technical problems around the government's main tender for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs had been resolved, so it should be awarded shortly, she said.
However, the atmosphere of the briefing grew contentious as journalists sparred with Tshabalala-Msimang over the number of people receiving treatment. The civil society lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), says the government is falling far short of its target of treating 53,000 people by March. Under persistent questioning, the minister said the statistics were too unreliable to have included in her briefing paper, but acknowledged that estimates varied from 28,000 to 31,000.
She also placed considerable stress on the need for good nutrition and on the need to establish the proportion of those on ARVs who suffer serious side effects. A day ahead of the minister's briefing, a top aide to President Thabo Mbeki generated headlines in South Africa when he gave encouragement to TAC protestors who had marched on Parliament to demand faster provision of ARVs.
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Receiving a memorandum on behalf of the government, Murphy Morobe told the TAC: "You are our conscience.... You have a right to come here and prick our conscience every time. I bury my own cousins every week and every month - six already in three years."
Morobe was a prominent internal leader of the United Democratic Front while the African National Congress was banned, known for his outspoken independent-mindedness and for his publicity skills.
Delivering his State of the Nation address to Parliament last week, President Mbeki said "broad trends in mortality" confirmed that special attention needed to be given to government health programmes. He said the comprehensive Aids plan was among the best in the world and "is being implemented with greater vigour."
For the full text of the Statistics South Africa statement, click here
