- Title
- Incidence of unnatural deaths in Transkei subregion of South Africa (1996 –2015)
- Subject
- South Africa Death 2078-6204 Journal article
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6172
- Identifier
- vital:45258
- Identifier
- xlink:href=": https://doi.org/10.1080/20786190.2017.1292697"
- Description
- Background: Unnatural deaths are a serious and preventable public health problem in South Africa. Such an event is more than the death of an individual who has died in an unnatural way. It has a negative and long-lasting impact on family members as well as on society as a whole. Objective: To study the pattern of unnatural deaths in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa. Method: A record review was undertaken from 1996 to 2015 of 24 693 medico-legal autopsies performed at Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory. Results: At the Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory, 24 693 autopsies were performed between 1996 and 2015 on people who had died unnatural deaths. The average rate of unnatural death is 205 per 100 000 per year in this region. The figure is 160 per 100 000 among males and 44 per 100 000 among females. The rate of unnatural death has increased from 153 per 100 000 in 1996 to 260 per 100 000 in 2015. In two-thirds (69%) of cases, the cause of death is related to trauma. Slightly less than half (45%) of the victims in this study were murdered. Conclusion: There is an increasing trend of unnatural deaths in the Mthatha region of South Africa. The male-to-female ratio is 3.8:1, and about half (48%) of the victims were between 11 and 30 years old. This situation needs the urgent attention of the law enforcement agencies. Keywords: unnatural deaths, traumatic deaths, violent death
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (6 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis Group
- Language
- English
- Relation
- South African Family Practice
- Relation
- To cite this article: BL Meel (2017) Incidence of unnatural deaths in Transkei subregion of South Africa (1996–2015), South African Family Practice, 59:4, 138-142, DOI: 10.1080/20786190.2017.1292697
- Relation
- South African Family Practice volume 59 number 4 138-142 4 2017 2078-6204
- Rights
- © 2017 The Author(s)
- Rights
- Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC 3.0]
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Incidence of unnatural deaths in Transkei sub region of South Africa 1996 2015.pdf.pdf | 656 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |