Women account for a slightly smaller proportion of COVID-19 infections and deaths compared with men, a preliminary analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 28 African countries shows.

The analysis based on COVID-19 gender specific epidemiological data provided by countries found that although women account for around 41% of COVID-19 cases, this ranges from 31% in Niger to over 57% in South Africa.

In most countries, women are somewhat less likely to die from COVID-19 than men. For instance, in Cote d’Ivoire the case fatality ratio stands at 0.4% for women compared with 0.5% in men, while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo it is 2.2% versus 2.7% and 0.1% versus 0.5% in Seychelles…more