Is Ebola Taking a Heavier Toll on Women?

VOICE OF AMERICA  by Carol Guensburg                                                                                 Dec. 5, 2014
The Ebola virus, indiscriminate and opportunistic, has infected more than 17,000 people in West Africa, the World Health Organization reports. But some observers fear the epidemic may be exacting an especially heavy toll on women and girls.    

Its impact goes well beyond the disease itself, amplifying females’ vulnerabilities, exploiting their limits within traditional societies, and motivating responses of strength and resilience.

Fatmata Sowa, 28, is among the few women who've joined the Red Cross safe and dignified burial teams in Sierra Leone. ( Lisa Pattison / IFRC)

"Ebola is not only a public health catastrophe, it is also unleashing devastating secondary effects on economic and social development, all of which have harmful implications for women and girls," Janet Fleischman, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently wrote for the Washington think tank’s Smart Global Health blog.

From birth to death, Ebola is wreaking havoc – primarily in the three hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Fear of infection deters women from seeking medical care during pregnancy and childbirth, likely driving up already-abysmal maternal mortality rates, health experts say [see chart below]. But the threat of contamination is greatest at death, when an Ebola patient’s viral load is highest. Cultural norms require that corpses are prepared for burial by people of the same sex – a serious problem when few women serve on official burial teams outfitted with personal protective equipment.

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http://www.voanews.com/content/is-ebola-exacting-a-heavier-toll-on-women/2545987.html

Link to Smart Global Health blog
http://www.smartglobalhealth.org/blog/entry/us-ebola-assistance-targeting-women-and-girls/