In South Africa a special concern with mortality has stemmed from the HIV1 epidemic. Levels of infection from HIV have risen rapidly. HIV only appeared to any substantial extent in South Africa in the early 1990s. At public antenatal clinics in
South Africa, the percentage of pregnant women who were HIV-positive was 1% in 1990, 17% in 1997 and 30% in 2004 (South Africa, Department of Health, 2004: 6, 2005a: 6). The average time from becoming HIV-positive to death is about 8-10
years in sub-Saharan Africa (Hunter and Williamson, 2000: 23). Large increases in the death rates of women in their twenties and thirties since the late 1990s are thought to result mainly from HIV. With the increases in HIV prevalence at antenatal
clinics since 1990, and with the long average lag from infection to death, it seems likely that HIV deaths will continue to increase in South Africa for some years.