An audit of all cases of female mortality in the reproductive age grou
ps has been performed in Dar es Salaam during 1991-93. Multiple source
s or information was used to collect information on deaths. None of th
e sources of information on death was alone adequate. 73 % of the inte
rviews was done at home. The mother as another close relative was inte
rviewed in more than 70 % of the cases. A total of 645 deaths were ide
ntified and 18 % of these were related to pregnancy. Fever, shortness
of breath and weight loss were the most common symptoms before death f
ollowed by pallor and vomiting. Almost 90 % visited a health facility
before death. AIDS (27 %), tuberculosis (13 %) and malaria (12 %) were
the most common causes of death. Diagnosis could not be made from aud
it data in 22 cases, and the relatives attributed 7.6 % of all deaths
to witchcraft or just God's will. AIDS and related diseases are now a
major cause of death in the female reproductive age group, There is ne
ed to identify preventive measures of this disease as well as preventi
on of malaria and tuberculosis.