Survey: Half of adult females in Brazil avoid pregnancy because of Zika virus

More than half of adult females of reproductive age in the region of Brazil have actively attempted to avoid pregnancy due to the Zika virus epidemic, in accordance to a survey carried out there.

Brazil has assured far more malformations of the brain in babies born to mothers who were affected with Zika in contrast to any other country.

So far, there have been 1,845 confirmed cases of what is now being known as congenital Zika syndrome; a further 7,246 cases are suspected but the link to the virus hasn’t still been firmly developed.

The survey conducted in the month of June, supervised by academics in Brazil, indicates that 56 percent of females who responded have tried to avoid pregnancy as a result. The numbers are no different among those who explain themselves as having religious beliefs – 58 percent of Catholics and 55 percent of Evangelicals in the survey claimed they were ignoring pregnancy.

In a letter to the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare, Dr Debora Diniz from the institute of University of Brasilia and coworkers say there is an urgent requirement for Brazil to review its policies on family planning and abortion, to assist females who need to avoid pregnancy or the risk of having a baby with brain malformation.

“As demonstrated by the high proportion of females who avoided pregnancy due to Zika, the Brazilian government must place reproductive health uncertainties at the centre of its response, involving reconsidering its continued criminalization of abortion,” they write.

The government should make sure the better access to contraceptive techniques and information, they say, arguing for a broader range of techniques to be made available. Long-lasting reversible contraception like intrauterine devices are scarce, they say, and hormonal implants are unavailable through the public services.

Females’ groups are trying to challenge Brazil’s abortion restrictions through the courts, arguing that those affected by the Zika virus should be permitted a termination.

The team carried out a face-to-face survey of more than 2,000 females, who are literate and between the ages of 18 and 38, which corresponds to 83 percent of the women population.

They discovered that 27 percent hadn’t tried to avoid pregnancy and 16 percent were not planning to become pregnant anyway, regardless of the Zika epidemic.

The response depicts the geographical affect of the epidemic, with a larger proportion of females from the hard-hit north-eastern region (66 percent) trying to avoid pregnancy in contrast to the south (46 percent).

“Black (64 percent) and brown (56 percent) females were more likely to report ignoring pregnancy than white women (51 percent), which also likely depicts the disproportionate effect of the epidemic among the most vulnerable racial groups,” they write.

An estimated 174,000 Brazilians are claimed by the ministry of health to have been impacted with the Zika virus, however the last updated figure was in early July.