In an effort to curb the number of children suffering from Zika-linked microcephaly and other diseases due to the health outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged women in affected countries to consider getting pregnant at a later time rather than sooner.
The mosquito-borne virus is spreading like a wildfire now especially in Brazil. Nearly 50 other countries are now dealing with the plague especially in Latin America and in the Caribbean. The advice of WHO echoes the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they recently said that women, their partners, and their doctors should decide carefully over the timing of their pregnancy.
WHO said in their statement that they are giving the guidance in order to prevent adverse pregnancy and fetal outcomes. They are advising the men and women of reproductive age who are living in areas where local transmission of Zika virus is known to occur. The guidance comes after more evidence showing that the virus could also be sexually transmitted, The Washington Post reported.
Men and women alike who have travelled in areas that are affected with Zika are also urged to remain abstinent for at least eight weeks.
Despite the clear intentions of WHO about the issuance of the guidance, global health experts are saying that it could face social consequences. Rebecca Katz, a specialist in the global health policy at Georgetown University, explained that the guidance has a huge impact on family planning and reproductive rights.
Most of the countries experiencing an increased number of Zika patients are Catholic and they do not have that much access to contraception. Katz continued to say that the guidance issued by WHO could also put pressure on governments to face the issue of not only contraception but also abortion.
This is not the first time, however, that such issuance was given out. Just this January, El Salvador urged women in the area to refrain from getting pregnant until the year 2018. Colombia, Honduras, and Jamaica have made the same statements. Pope Francis also said in February that artificial contraception could be used as the virus potentially results to miscarriages or infants born with birth defects linked to Zika.
The most common Zika-linked disease is microcephaly wherein children born with the condition have abnormally small ears and brains that are underdeveloped resulting to delaying many of the child's skills.
