AIDS biggest killer of S.Africa new mothers
Pastor Dale Morgan
AIDS biggest killer of S.Africa new mothers*
Reuters
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; 10:23 AM
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS is the biggest single killer of new
mothers in South Africa, the Health Department said on Tuesday in a grim
new statistic of the pandemic's toll on the country.
The department released a study on maternal deaths from 2002-2004,
illustrating a raft of problems with medical care for mothers in the
country, which is both the richest in Africa and among the worst hit by
the AIDS crisis.
The study looked at 3,406 deaths of pregnant women and new mothers
between 2002-2004 and found HIV/AIDS was responsible for 20.1 percent of
fatalities -- the largest single category.
Other causes of death included pneumonia and tuberculosis, both
frequently associated with HIV/AIDS infection but listed separately,
along with hemorrhage, malaria and other illnesses.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, often criticized by AIDS
activists for what they say is the government's slow response to the
crisis, said high maternal mortality was "of great concern" but that
South Africa was confident it was on the right track.
"We should be confident and defend the position we take as a nation in
responding to our health challenges," she said in a statement.
The survey noted that South Africa's national plan to tackle HIV, which
includes free anti-retroviral drugs, only began at the end of the
research period -- which could help reduce maternal AIDS deaths in future.
But it also detailed other problems with maternal care in South Africa,
ranging from lack of transport and inadequate ante-natal education to
poor screening for disease and negligence by health workers, which it
said were keeping the country's maternal death rate unacceptably high.
Tshabalala-Mismang said that while South Africa was working hard to
reduce maternal deaths, there was still much to do.
"We have to particularly address the point raised in the report that a
significant number of deaths could have been avoided," she said.