Millions of 'snips' will harm millions of men.

To the Editor: No one knows how many people die due to HIV-related causes in South Africa every year. According to the latest statistical release, HIV is the 9th leading underlying cause of death in the country.1 This is hard to believe. Research has shown that only about 25% of all deaths related to HIV are notified as such2 – either ‘HIV’ as an underlying or contributing cause of death is left out completely, or a euphemism for HIV is recorded instead. These euphemisms (e.g. immunosuppression, retroviral disease), although widely accepted by medical professionals, cannot be classified as HIV by the ICD-10 coders at Statistics South Africa, who may only code what they see.1