The right(s) approach to Zika - The Lancet Global Health
▻http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)30109-7/fulltext
The face of Zika is not often seen in the air-conditioned shopping malls of upscale Rio neighbourhoods or on the beaches of Ipanema. Rio has its fair share of cases, but so far the heaviest burden has been borne by the northeast region of Brazil, where poverty, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health services are rampant, and the penetration of Aedes aegypti is high. A large proportion of the population in that region is of African descent—indeed, the face of Zika is often that of a darker-skinned person. And because most cases are asymptomatic, and the most dramatic signs of the disease appear through congenital Zika syndrome, the face of Zika is that of a woman or a small child.
(...) poor women in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, and elsewhere have been let down by their governments. They are at the centre of the epidemics, they are scrutinised and lectured, but lack of access to basic reproductive services and restrictive abortion laws have stripped them of a choice when faced with the dire consequences of the virus on their health and that of their children.
#santé #inégalités #femmes #zika #droits