An analysis of causes of child mortality in South Africa : 1997-2006

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the causes of child deaths in South Africa. The study analysed trends in the cause of death for the children aged 1-4 year s, examined sex· differentials and variation in the causes of child death by province, and month of death. When a country has a high child mortality, it usually signals high prevalence of infectious, parasitic, communicable, and other diseases associated with poor sanitary conditions and malnourishment . The research indicates that the leading underlying causes of death for children aged 1-4 years in South Africa are diarrhoea and gastroenteritis of presumed infectious origin, and pneumonia causes of child death vary by province and month of death. The leading immediate causes of child mortality include pneumonia organism unspecified, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis of presumed infectious origin. Whereas Microsoft excel was instrumental for cross tabulation, Super Cross (the Microsoft Windows-based tabulation system providing rapid access to very large database) was used for data analysis.. Super-Cross was also used to run all variables for each specific objective. It summarizes data in table presentation using Windows features. A propos these enabling tabulation seystems, the study highlighted the need for continued improvement in causes of child death data to facilitate monitoring of MDG no 4.