Mortality report false, says Zimbabwe

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By Staff Reporter

THE Zimbabwean government has denied international media reports that the average life expectancy for Zimbabwean women had dropped from 36 years in 2004 to 34 this year.

Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, said the claim - attributed the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s 2006 World Health Report - were false, reported The Daily Mirror.

Parirenyatwa stormed: "Those reports are false. There is nothing like that. Phone the WHO
representative and he will tell you it's not true."

The average life expectancy of men has remained at 37, the reports state.

The reports further said Zimbabwe and Swaziland were among the countries worst affected by the HIV pandemic on the continent.

The average life expectancy was reportedly less than half of the 82-year life span in Japan, which was placed at the top of the table together with San Marino and Monaco.

According to a press release posted on the WHO website on April 7, a health workforce crisis in 57 counties is having a deadly impact on their ability to fight disease and improve health.

That article sought to relate HIV prevalence to mortality in Zimbabwe, but did not mention economic hardships as directly related to mortality rates in the country.
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