SAHR 2007 - Health Systems Trust

Disability
Data on disability remains poor. Even though the General
Household Survey does include questions about disability,
the number of responses is low, and this makes disaggregation
below the national level problematic. The national
Department of Health has set a target for reporting of birth
defects, and thus prioritised training of health workers in
human genetics. Updated data on deaths associated with
birth defects were calculated from data released with the
Statistics South Africa in the “Mortality and causes of death in
South Africa, 2005: Findings from death notification” report
[StatsSA Causes of death 2005] (Table 10).
Table 10: Deaths due to birth defects by province and selected underlying causes, 2003-2005
Year Underlying cause (ICD-10) EC FS GP KZN LP MP NC NW WC SA
2003 Birth defects of the cardiovascular system
(Q20-Q28)
% of deaths from
birth defects by
cause
55 49 159 88 20 39 12 38 87 547 30.0
Neural tube defects (Q05-Q07) 10 13 15 18 4 7 3 11 10 91 5.0
Down’s syndrome (Q90) 19 9 34 10 4 7 4 9 11 107 5.9
Other 88 76 302 219 70 58 31 103 134 1 081 59.2
All birth defects 172 147 510 335 98 111 50 161 242 1 826 100.0
2004 Birth defects of the cardiovascular system
(Q20-Q28)
67 57 168 79 27 37 11 35 94 575 29.8
Neural tube defects (Q05-Q07) 13 8 24 21 6 6 3 7 12 100 5.2
Down’s syndrome (Q90) 18 7 35 31 5 8 4 7 19 134 7.0
Other 109 98 283 208 53 76 29 85 177 1 118 58.0
All birth defects 207 170 510 339 91 127 47 134 302 1 927 100.0
2005 Birth defects of the cardiovascular system
(Q20-Q28)
71 39 175 87 33 43 18 53 87 606 30.3
Neural tube defects (Q05-Q07) 15 5 17 14 7 3 2 14 9 86 4.3
Down’s syndrome (Q90) 11 13 35 30 8 12 3 13 30 155 7.8
Other 118 87 319 205 73 74 30 100 145 1 151 57.6
All birth defects 215 144 546 336 121 132 53 180 271 1 998 100.0
Source: Calculated from StatsSA Causes of death 2005.
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