Life expectancy in urban areas deteriorates

JIMMY LWANGILI

AS AFRICAN marked Africa Statistics day, studies have shown that life expectancy for the people in urban areas has dropped compared to the citizens in rural areas.

The Director General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Albina Chuwa, said the drop of life expectancy is due to deteriorating health services and increased epidemiology in urban areas which leads to the rapid increase of the number of deaths compared to rural areas.

Dr Chuwa made the remarks in Dar es Salaam yesterday at the Eastern Africa Statistical Training Centre during the celebration of 15th Statistics day in Africa, which is usually celebrated on November 18th every year with the theme “Better Data for Better Lives”.

“Compared to the 1978 figures, life expectancy has increased from 48 to 62 years now, but people in urban areas seem to have shorter lives compared to the people in rural areas,” she explained.

“Our role as the government is to organise ourselves with the best figures to improve the lives of all people in the country, because through better data we can further improve health care in urban and rural areas,” he said.

She added that as well as improving health care in rural areas, urban areas also should be seriously considered because according to 2012 census, 30 per cent of the population lives in urban areas and the rest is in rural areas, while 10 out of the 30 per cent are living in Dar es Salaam.

Earlier, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Dr Adolf Mkenda, who was representing the Permanent Secretary, Dr Servacius Likwelile as the guest of honour, said production and dissemination of better statistics should not be left to NBS alone if it is to bring a difference to people’s lives.

He urged stakeholders and partners in the field of statistics to collaborate with NBS to ensure that the necessary investments are made, adequate capacity is built and new data sources are explored and new technologies applied to give comprehensive information that is needed to achieve sustainable development goals.

“I call upon all stakeholders of statistics to tirelessly provide the required information in different statistical activities undertaken by NBS and other producers of official statistics,” said Dr Mkenda.

He further noted that the government will continue to support the undergoing sector reforms and offer support in the areas of financial and human resources.

According to him, better data increases trustworthy of users of official statistics and the public in general, on the government side better data ensures that proper decisions are made for social and economic development of the people at all levels.

“When approached by data collectors in different surveys that produce official statistics, the public should fully participate and provide credible and correct answers, this cooperation will ensure credible result that will allow proper development planning and hence make our lives better,” he said.