Why Are So Many Women Dying From Ebola?
A really important article. Please read and pass along or cross post as you see fit.
Foreign Policy
Why Are So Many Women Dying From Ebola?
Studies show that infectious disease often affects one gender more than another -- but that knowledge isn't being put into practice.BY Lauren Wolfe
AUGUST 20, 2014
When people started dying from Ebola in West Africa in March, Martha Anker, a former statistician in communicable disease surveillance and response at the World Health Organization (WHO), began watching the news to see whom primarily the terrible disease would strike. Sitting in her house in Massachusetts, Anker had a gut feeling: that Ebola, as it had in the past, would claim women as its primary victims.
As it turns out, Anker was right.
On Aug. 14, the Washington Post reported that across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone collectively, women have comprised 55 to 60 percent of the dead. In Liberia, the government has reported that 75 percent of victims are women. "I felt very sad when I read that thing from the Washington Post," Anker says. "I'm so sorry to be right."
Back in 2007, Anker wrote in a WHO report, "Differences in exposure between males and females have been shown to be important factors in transmission of EHF [Ebola hemorrhagic fever]. Therefore, it is important to understand the gender roles and responsibilities that affect exposure in the local area.".... MORE at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/20/why_are_so_many_women_dying_from_ebola
= new reply since forum marked as read
