Trends in the mortality rates for the ten leading causes of death among white, coloured and Asian children under 5 years of age in the RSA, 1968-1977.
The mean mortality rates (MRs) for the ten leading causes of death among Coloured children in the RSA over the 10-year period 1968-1977 were consistently higher, and in some instances substantially higher, than the MRs among White children; the MRs among Asians were intermediate between those for the White and Coloured children. For certain causes of death the differences between the MRs of White and Coloured children were large; the MR for gastro-enteritis of Coloured children was 42 times higher than that of White children, the MR for tuberculosis was 64 times higher, the MR for measles was 52 times higher, the MR for nutritional deficiencies was 57 times higher, and the MR for pneumonia was 17 times higher. There were, however, certain important causes of death in Coloured children in which dramatic improvements occurred over the 10-year period. For example, the decrease in the MR for gastro-enteritis was 21 times as fast as the change in the MR among White children. Also, the MR for nutritional deficiencies among Coloured children decreased at a faster rate than the MRs among the other children. Unfortunately there were no improvements over the 10-year period in MRs for tuberculosis, measles and pneumonia in Coloured and White children. This is a cause for concern since these are preventable diseases.
D000059:Accidents; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000401:mortality; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008581:Meningitis / Q000401:mortality; D009026:Mortality; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000401:mortality; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000401:mortality; D013019:South Africa; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000401:mortality