The UN World Health Organization (WHO) says the death toll in the West African Ebola Outbreak is now 1,350, with the addition of 130 fatalities from the day before.  And another troubling statistic is emerging – about 75 percent of the people contracting Ebola are women.

This is because women – nurses, wives, mothers – are the people who wind up tending to Ebola patients, whether it’s at the hospital or at home. 

“Women are the caregivers — if a kid is sick, they say, ‘Go to your mom’,” according to Julia Duncan-Cassell, Liberia’s minister for gender and development.  “The cross-border trade women go to Guinea and Sierra Leone for the weekly markets, (and) they are also the caregivers.  Most of the time when there is a death in the family, it’s the woman who prepares the funeral, usually an aunt or older female relative.”

Health care workers have said that the key to getting the Ebola Outbreak under control will be in Liberia.  And WHO spokeswoman in Monrovia Maricel Seeger said teaching women about Ebola is crucial to tackling the virus’ spread.

“By reaching the women, they are reaching those who can best protect their families, and their own health,” she said.