South African society violent, says medical study

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 10

South African society violent, says medical study

NZPA-AFP Johannesburg South Africa is a violent society, according to a study. Based on 1984 statistics, the Medical Research Council — a Governmentfunded research organisation — said that “nonnatural” causes bf death, including motor vehicle accidents, violence, poisonings and suicide, accounted for 36 per cent of deaths in South Africa providing “strong support for the observation that South Africa is a violent society,” the M.R.C. said. Newspaper headlines reinforce the M.R.C.’s findings daily.

Motor accidents rate as

one of the biggest killers. South Africa’s roads claimed more than 115 lives over one long weekend this month. The MJtG said that in the white community one of the most common causes of death was heart disease. Cancer ranked second, respiratory diseases third and poisoning and violence fourth. The M.R.C. was critical of the reliability of Information on deaths among blacks. Infant mortality rates differed dramatically among the various racial groups. Between 94 and 124 per 1000 black infants died,

while among whites 12 deaths; per 1000 children were recorded, it said. Most of the Infant deaths among African and mixed-race people were caused by low birthweights and infectious diseases. The M.R.C. report was based on figures for 1984 only — excluding deaths caused by political unrest The South African Institute of Race Relations, an independent research body which examines political violence, estimates that from September 1984 until the beginning of this year at least 2387 people died during such unrest.