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Zika virus infection in Brazil and human rights obligations
Author(s) -
Diniz Debora,
Gumieri Sinara,
Bevilacqua Beatriz Galli,
Cook Rebecca J.,
Dickens Bernard M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1002/ijgo.12018
Subject(s) - zika virus , declaration , human rights , abortion , microcephaly , public health , reproductive rights , population , health care , reproductive health , government (linguistics) , legislation , medicine , harm , political science , economic growth , environmental health , law , pediatrics , virology , nursing , pregnancy , virus , linguistics , philosophy , biology , economics , genetics
The February 2016 WHO declaration that congenital Zika virus syndrome constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern reacted to the outbreak of the syndrome in Brazil. Public health emergencies can justify a spectrum of human rights responses, but in Brazil, the emergency exposed prevailing inequities in the national healthcare system. The government's urging to contain the syndrome, which is associated with microcephaly among newborns, is confounded by lack of reproductive health services. Women with low incomes in particular have little access to such health services. The emergency also illuminates the harm of restrictive abortion legislation, and the potential violation of human rights regarding women's health and under the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child and on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Suggestions have been proposed by which the government can remedy the widespread healthcare inequities among the national population that are instructive for other countries where congenital Zika virus syndrome is prevalent.