Scarred by Zika, Brazilian women say ‘no’ to pandemic pregnancies

“We have to avoid pregnancy,” said Rosa, about the possibility of having a child during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I don’t want to have a baby. What I went through in 2017 when I had Raíssa, God forbid.”

Living in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, Rosa’s first child Raíssa was born during the Zika epidemic, the mosquito-borne disease that can cause severe birth defects when contracted during pregnancy.

Between 2015 and 2017, some 3,700 babies in Brazil were born with Zika-related microcephaly, a congenital malformation by which children are born with abnormally small heads. These babies are now 4 to 7 years old. While some began to develop normally within a few years, others face enormous difficulties eating, walking, speaking and seeing. They require highly specialized care, for which families receive little help from the government.

Pernambuco was among the epicenters of Brazil’s Zika outbreak. Today, Brazil is an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 13 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, nearly 400,000 deaths, and no end to the crisis in sight.

Amid this health emergency, the Zika virus is still circulating — albeit much less common than before.

For Rosa and many other women in Pernambuco, the thought of navigating another pregnancy during an infectious disease outbreak is incredibly stressful — and their anxiety is starting to show in Brazil’s declining pregnancy rates.

The Zika-Covid connection

I lead the DeCodE Project, a study funded by the National Institute of Child...