HIV/AIDS and human violence the biggest killers of SA men in 2012, says study
HIV/AIDS was the biggest cause of men’s deaths in 2012 in SA, and the next biggest threat was other humans, says the second national burden of disease study released by the SA Medical Research Council. It found HIV/AIDS was responsible for 28% of all male deaths, and interpersonal violence accounted for 5.7%. Among women, HIV accounted for the lion’s share of deaths (30.2%) followed by cerebrovascular disease (9.6%). While HIV/AIDS accounted for the largest share of the deaths in 2012 (153,000 out of a total of 528,947), the disease exacted half the toll of 2006, when it was estimated to have killed a staggering 300,000 people, said the authors of the report released on Tuesday. They attributed the gain to the government providing free antiretroviral treatment for HIV patients in earnest, which was not the case under the Thabo Mbeki administration. Life expectancy at birth had risen from 53.9 years in 2005 to 62.1 in 2012, said the report. "However, HIV/AIDS is still the single lea...
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