NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 2594
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 09 September 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 28)
Mr I O Davidson (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) Whether his department has conducted a diseases profile of the
population; if not, (a) why not and (b) when will this be done; if so,
(i) when was it completed, (ii) who conducted the profile, (iii) what
was the cost of the profiling and (iv) what were the findings;
(2) whether a costing of each disease has been conducted; if not, (a) why
not and (b) when will this be done; if so, what are the costs
associated with each disease?
NW3009E
REPLY:
1) Yes.
a) Not applicable.
b) Not applicable
i) The initial report on the Burden of Disease Study, focusing on the
year 2000, was published in 2003. A second report was published in
2007.
ii) The South African Medical Research Council (MRC), a public entity
established by an Act of Parliament.
iii) The annual operational costs of the MRC Unit that produced the Burden
of Disease Estimates are as follows:
|Line Item |Expenditure |
|Personnel salaries |R3 million |
|Data collection, including the |R1,2 million |
|appointment of fieldworkers and data | |
|capturers. | |
|Goods and Services |R0,6 million |
|Total |R4,8 million** |
** This amount excludes the costs of travelling to, and
accommodation at different data collection sites across
the country.
iv) Key findings of the MRC are reflected below.
DALYs ATTRIBUTED TO SELECTED RISK FACTORS COMPARED WITH THE
UNDERLYING CAUSES OF SALYS
|Rank |Risk factor |% total|Rank |Disease, injury or|% total |
| | |DALYs | |condition |DALYs |
|1 |Unsafe sex/STIs |31.5 |1 |HIV/AIDS |30.9|
|2 |Interpersonal |8.4 |2 |Interpersonal |6.5 |
| |violence (risk | | |violence injury | |
| |factor) | | | | |
|3 |Alcohol harm |7.0 |3 |Tuberculosis |3.7 |
|4 |Tobacco smoking |4.0 |4 |Road traffic |3.0 |
| | | | |injury | |
|5 |High BMI (Excess |2.9 |5 |Diarrhoeal |2.9 |
| |bodyweight) | | |diseases | |
|6 |Childhood and |2.7 |6 |Lower respiratory|2.8 |
| |maternal | | |infection | |
| |underweight | | | | |
|7 |Unsafe water |2.6 |7 |Low birth weight |2.6 |
| |sanitation and | | | | |
| |hygiene | | | | |
|8 |High blood pressure|2.4 |8 |Asthma |2.2 |
|9 |Diabetes (risk |1.6 |9 |Stroke |2.2 |
| |factor) | | | | |
|10 |High cholesterol |1.4 |10 |Unipolar |2.0 |
| | | | |depressive | |
| | | | |disorders | |
|11 |Low fruit and |1.1 |11 |Ischaemic heart |1.8 |
| |vegetable intake | | |disease | |
|12 |Physical inactivity|1.1 |12 |Protein-energy |1.3 |
| | | | |malnutrition | |
|13 |Iron deficiency |1.1 |13 |Birth asphyxia |1.2 |
| |anaemia | | |and birth trauma | |
|14 |Vitamin A |0.7 |14 |Diabetes mellitus|1.1 |
| |deficiency | | | | |
|15 |Indoor air |0.4 |15 |Alcohol |1.0 |
| |pollution | | |dependence | |
|16 |Lead exposure |0.4 |16 |Hearing loss, |1.0 |
| | | | |adult onset | |
|17 |Urban air pollution|0.3 |17 |Cataracts |0.9 |
2) No.
a) It was not part of the objectives of the Burden of Disease Study
to conduct an economic impact assessment of each disease.
a) When resources become available to conduct such an economic
impact assessment study.
END.