“Elevated rates of external injuries among men accounted for 4.1 years of the total sex difference‚” they write in the journal Plos One.
Data used by the scientists came from a demographic surveillance system and HIV prevalence surveys‚ and in some cases goes back to 2000.
Life expectancy was put at 56.4 years for men and 66.8 years for women‚ with the gap “more than four times the World Health Organisation’s 2013 estimate of 2.5 years for the African region as a whole‚” said the researchers‚ led by Georges Reniers from Wits.
Aside from the size of the difference with the regional average‚ two other reasons rendered the results remarkable‚ they said:
- HIV prevalence in the study population was very high‚ something that usually reduces sex differences in life expectancy; and
- Male mortality was disproportionally high as a result of TB and injuries.
“These results ... signal the need to improve efforts to target men with preventative‚ diagnostic and curative health services‚” said the researchers.