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“Too Much to Ask, Too Much to Handle”: Women’s Coping in Times of Zika

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Rosa Linde Arias

    (Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA
    Escola de Matemática Aplicada FGV EMAp, Fundação Getulio Vargas FGV, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22250-900, Brazil)

  • Elisa Tristan-Cheever

    (Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

  • Grace Furtado

    (Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA)

  • Eduardo Siqueira

    (School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125-3393, USA)

Abstract

Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of congenital brain abnormalities. Its consequences for pregnancies have made governments and both national and international agencies issue advice and recommendations to women. This study was designed to understand the impacts of Zika on women who were less directly affected and less vulnerable to Zika. Women were recruited from various locations in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Women perceived that public health systems placed an unfair responsibility for preventing health complications from Zika onto women who had limited ability to do so. They also stated that the measures recommended to them were invasive, while creating the perception that women were the sole determinant of whether they contracted Zika. The results indicate that women with higher levels of education understood the limitations of the information, government actions, and medical care they received, which ended up producing higher levels of anguish and worry. Gender inequality and discrimination must be recognized and rendered visible in the public health emergency response. The social effects of the epidemic affected women more than had been thought before and at deeper emotional levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Rosa Linde Arias & Elisa Tristan-Cheever & Grace Furtado & Eduardo Siqueira, 2020. "“Too Much to Ask, Too Much to Handle”: Women’s Coping in Times of Zika," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-12, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4613-:d:376882
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kelly, Ann H. & Lezaun, Javier & Löwy, Ilana & Matta, Gustavo Corrêa & de Oliveira Nogueira, Carolina & Rabello, Elaine Teixeira, 2020. "Uncertainty in times of medical emergency: Knowledge gaps and structural ignorance during the Brazilian Zika crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    2. Rasanathan, J.J.K. & MacCarthy, S. & Diniz, D. & Torreele, E. & Gruskin, S., 2017. "Engaging human rights in the response to the evolving zika virus epidemic," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(4), pages 525-531.
    3. Rachel Lowe & Christovam Barcellos & Patrícia Brasil & Oswaldo G. Cruz & Nildimar Alves Honório & Hannah Kuper & Marilia Sá Carvalho, 2018. "The Zika Virus Epidemic in Brazil: From Discovery to Future Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, January.
    4. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303658_1 is not listed on IDEAS
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