About two-thirds of people infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo's latest Ebola outbreak have been women, health officials confirmed Jan. 17, according to Reuters.
In the Congo's nine previous Ebola outbreaks, men and women demonstrated relatively equal infection rates. The current outbreak's disparity may be due to gender roles in the Congo's North Kivu province, where the outbreak is occurring.
In this province, women are often the heads of their households, according to Julienne Anoko, PhD, a social anthropologist working for WHO. They are responsible for caring for the sick, taking them to the hospital or preparing bodies for a burial, all of which can expose them to Ebola. Many women have also shown distrust of male health workers, Dr. Anoko noted.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said gender should play a larger role in health agencies' analysis of and response to infectious disease outbreaks.
"This is unexpected," she told Reuters. "It shows the role of women needs to be taken into account right from the get-go."