The ratio of COVID-19 deaths for Bangladeshi women has been nearly half that for Bangladeshi men since the start of the pandemic last year. With the ascent of the Delta variant, a change was seen in August.
Women surpassed men in the COVID daily death count for the first time on Aug 12, according to data from the Directorate General of Health Services. According to the agency’s statistics, 108 women died in the 24 hours to 8 am on that day, compared to 107 men.
Similar data were shared by the government on Monday, when 64 women died from the illness, compared to 53 men. The numbers were 58 for women and 56 for men a day later, reports bdnews24.com.
The number of deaths among women has increased since April, according to the Health Services Division. As of Apr 1, at least 75.20 per cent of those who died (from the coronavirus) were men and 24.80 per cent were women. The gap in the death toll between men and women gradually narrowed in May, June and July. The death rate for women rose to 29 per cent in July and 33.08 per cent in early August.
A gender-based analysis shows that 1,090 women and 1,262 men died from COVID-19 in the two weeks to Aug 24, showing a grim new trend. Women accounted for 46.34 per cent of deaths in this period. But, among overall deaths from the pandemic, women accounted for 34.75 per cent and men 65.25 per cent.
Experts believe that more men have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic because they tend to leave home more and are thus more likely to contract the virus.
Women, on the other hand, stay home more often than men and also generally have better natural immunity, they said.
According to experts, a sudden increase in the number of deaths among women could be caused by three main factors: disparity in vaccination, a gap in COVID tests and the characteristics of the Delta variant.
DISPARITY IN VACCINATION
Bangladesh kicked off its inoculation drive in February of this year. As more men took the shots, women fell behind in terms of vaccination, increasing their vulnerability, experts said.
Women have natural protection from the disease due to hormonal reasons, but now men have better overall protection after receiving the vaccine, said Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, adviser to the World Health Organization.
“The death rate is low among men who are fully vaccinated or took at least the first dose, even if they contract the disease. Maybe that’s why the death rate for men has dropped,” he said.
“The vaccination rate is pretty low among women. Now the men are getting more protection from their vaccines, similar to the hormonal protection women have.”
According to the DGHS, as of Tuesday, over 17.2 million people have taken the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh. Among them 9.9 million were men and 7.2 million were women.
Women fell behind in taking the vaccine at the start of the vaccination campaign, said Dr ASM Alamgir, chief scientific officer at Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
"Lower numbers of women have received the vaccine in comparison to men. The disparity has decreased since our campaign as we focused on women in rural areas," he said.
SMALL NUMBER OF TESTS
Women do not take as many coronavirus tests, even if they contract the disease, which makes them vulnerable, experts believe.
Dr Alamgir blamed social issues for the disparity. "Women don't show up for tests because of social stigma and taboos. They are expected to endure everything. It is believed they have no need to get a test."
"More women are contracting the disease after the coronavirus infection spread to rural areas. Women also seek medical treatment much later. Sometimes, they don't talk about their illness and it becomes evident only when they suffer from respiratory distress," he said.
"In our social context, men are taken to the hospital faster than women."
SPREAD OF THE DELTA VARIANT
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is another reason behind the higher number of deaths among women, said Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed. The hormonal protection that women have is not enough to fight the variant, he said. Even children are getting the disease more often as the variant becomes more dominant, he mentioned.
The Delta variant is causing more infections and deaths among women, according to IEDCR adviser Dr Mushtuq Husain.
“Now more women are contracting the virus and dying. Previously, not all family members were getting the disease, but now it seems more likely to spread among the entire family, including the women. So now we are seeing more women getting COVID,” he said.
"Now that the infection rate is high, the number of deaths has increased too. That's what I believe," said Dr Mushtuq.
The DGHS could not provide any information on why more women are contracting the virus.
Despite highlighting these three possible factors that could lead to more deaths among women, experts say more information is needed before drawing a definitive conclusion.
"We need to see how many men and women are getting infected and how many of them are dying," said Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director of DGHS.
"It's very important and we must focus to find out the reason behind the increased vulnerability of women."