Women at greatest risk from DRC Ebola outbreak, health workers warn, as confirmed cases rise

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues its fight against Ebola, women are on the front line.

In the last outbreak, women accounted for two-thirds of cases due to their traditional role in many communities.

According to a statement published by UN Women last week, women have been overrepresented in Ebola deaths for the last 50 years.

“This was evident during the 2018–2019 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where women and girls accounted for around two thirds of reported cases,” UN Women warned in its statement.

Health workers say this outbreak will likely follow the same pattern.

“When someone in the community is sick, a family member or someone like that, it’s the woman who comes to help that sick person," says Dr. Furaha Elisabeth, the director of the Karibuni Wa Maman Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic in Bunia. "It’s the woman who gives them a bath, it’s the woman who feeds them, and it’s the woman who’s there to wash the dirty clothes and everything else.”

Women are also overrepresented in hospitals and care facilities. And due to a lack of personal protective equipment, they’re making do with whatever resources they have. That poses a threat not just to them, but to their families, says Dr. Elisabeth.

“Nurses (in hospitals) are usually women. If a woman is exposed and becomes infected, she will naturally pass the infection on to those around her. And the first people to be infected will be her children. The child she is breastfeeding, her children, the young children she cares for, and so on. That is why women, young girls, and children are the people most at risk from this epidemic.”

On Sunday, authorities said the number of confirmed cases in the DRC has risen to 282 - the vast majority in Ituri province, 15 in North Kivu province and 3 in South Kivu.

Uganda has confirmed nine cases of the virus.

Five patients have recovered from the disease, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on Sunday at the opening of a new treatment centre in Bunia, capital of Ituri province.