Lesotho – Health Statistics

Population: 2,171,318 (2010 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth: 51.86 years (2012 estimate)

Literacy rate: 84.8% (2012 estimate)

South Africa Health Statistics

  • According to the Non-communicable Diseases Country Profiles 2011 (WHO), NCDs accounted for 29% of all deaths (32,069) in Lesotho in 2008.
  • In 2008, a total of 9,300 people died of NCDs. Of all the NCD deaths 35.4% males and 29.1% females died below the age of 60.
  • Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) caused 14% of all NCD deaths.
  • The age-standardised death rate per 100,000 for CVDs and diabetes is 513.1 for males and 393.4 for females. For cancer the death rate is 79.2 (male) and 59.3 (female) while it is 114.4 (male) and 57.7 (female) for chronic respiratory diseases.
  • The average age of death from CVD in sub-Saharan Africa is at least 10 years younger than in developed countries, which means that it often affects adults in their most economically productive years.
  • According to the latest WHO data published in April 2011 Stroke Deaths in Lesotho reached 1,604 or 5.58% of total deaths. The age adjusted Death Rate is 139.21 per 100,000 of population.
  • The Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in 2008 found that 11.8% of boys and 7.5% of girls aged 13–15 in Lesotho use tobacco, and that 36.9% of children live in a house where family members smoke in their presence.
  • According to WHO/ICO Information Centre on HPV and Cervical Cancer, Lesotho as of 2010, has a population of 661,000 women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 279 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 178 die from the disease.
  • Cervical cancer ranks as the 1st most frequent cancer among women in Lesotho, and the 2nd most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age.
  • Data is not yet available on the HPV burden in the general population of Lesotho. However, in Southern Africa, the region Lesotho belongs to, about 21% of women in the general population are estimated to harbour cervical HPV infection at a given time, and 62.8% of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPVs 16 or 18.
  • A baseline study into Lesotho’s infection rate found the prevalence of cervical cancer to be 66.7%.
  • About 83% of oesophageal cancer cases occur in less developed countries. The highest incidence of oesophageal cancer is in Southern and Eastern Africa, and Eastern Asia. In Lesotho the age-standardised rate of oesophageal cancer per 100,000 is 20.6 for men and 10.6 for women.
  • According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the Africa region has the highest proportion of undiagnosed diabetes, which is at least 78%, with an estimated 344,000 deaths caused by the disease.
  • If left unchecked, the WHO estimates that Africa will have the highest relative increase of people living with diabetes by the year 2020.
  • In 2011 the number of people suffering from diabetes (aged 20-79) in Lesotho was 29,140 with a national prevalence of 2.63%.
  • Deaths related to diabetes among same age group in 2011 was 1,339.
  • In 2008, the total percentage of overweight and obese people in Lesotho were 37.3% and 14.6% respectively. The incidence of overweight and obesity was comparatively much high in women (54.6% overweight and 24% obese) than men (15.4% overweight and 2.6% obese).
  • The total expenditure on health as percentage of GDP is 13.2% as of 2009. The hospital bed density per 1000 population is 1.33 beds (2006) while there are 0.05 physicians per 1000 population.

References:

  1. Non-communicable Diseases Country Profile 2011 – WHO
  2. WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO), The Health of the People: The African Regional Health Report (2006)
  3. The Lesotho Global Youth Tobacco Survey Report (2008) – Tobacco Control Policy Implications, 2008
  4. Human Papillomavirus and Related Cancers, Fact Sheet 2010 (Sep 15, 2010) – WHO/ICO Information Centre on HPV and Cervical Cancer
  5. GLOBOCAN 2008 database
  6. IDF Diabetes Atlas 2011 – International Diabetes Federation
  7. CIA – The World Factbook