title: Female mortality in reproductive ages in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
abstract: An audit of all cases of female mortality in the reproductive age groups has been performed in Dar es Salaam during 1991-93. Multiple sources of information was used to collect information on deaths. None of the sources of information on death was alone adequate. 73% of the interviews was done at home. The mother or another close relative was interviewed in more than 70% of the cases. A total of 645 deaths were identified and 18% of these were related to pregnancy. Fever, shortness of breath and weight loss were the most common symptoms before death followed by pallor and vomiting. Almost 90% visited a health facility before death. AIDS (27%), tuberculosis (13%) and malaria (12%) were the most common causes of death. Diagnosis could not be made from audit data in 22 cases, and the relatives attributed 7.6% of all deaths to witchcraft or just God's will. AIDS and related diseases are now a major cause of death in the female reproductive age group. There is need to identify preventive measures of this disease as well as prevention of malaria and tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Muhimbili Medical Centre, Tanzania.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Urassa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Massawe
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mgaya
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lindmark
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nyström
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008428:Maternal Mortality; D008485:Medical Audit; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012042:Registries; D012098:Reproduction; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D016387:Women's Health