title: Peering into the black hole--the quality of black mortality data in Port Elizabeth and the rest of South Africa.
abstract: In the year ending 30 June 1989, 26.8% of 5,345 deaths in the Port Elizabeth area were classified as ill-defined. A study was undertaken in an attempt to identify the reasons for the high proportion of such deaths. Copies of all death notifications and death register forms of black people in the area served by the Port Elizabeth City Health Department were collected for a 6-week period. Of the 316 deaths, 154 (48.7%) were certified by medical practitioners at a hospital, 158 (50%) by the police and 4 (1.3%) by private medical practitioners. Of the police-certified deaths 116 (73.4%) were recorded as due to 'natural causes', with the remainder being submitted to autopsy. Of the hospital deaths, 26% were not adequately described in the section for the cause of death on the death certificate. Review of national mortality data for 1985 showed that only 29.9% of ill-defined deaths (in all population groups) were certified by a medical practitioner. The prime source of deaths classified as ill-defined, both in Port Elizabeth and nationally, were those not certified by a medical practitioner. Strategies aimed at minimising the number of deaths certified by the police need to be developed.
authors.affiliation: Port Elizabeth City Health Department.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van der Merwe
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yach
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Metcalf
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D044383:Black People; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D013019:South Africa