Zika virus: Restricting pregnancy is discriminatory

Don't restrict women's access to sexual and reproductive health services in contravention of international standards, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussien, warned last week in New York.

The UN is averse to the advice to women to delay getting pregnant due to the possible link between the rampaging Zika virus and neurological disorders affecting newborns.

It says upholding women’s human rights was essential if the response to the Zika health emergency would be effective.

Telling women to delay getting pregnant ignores the reality that many women and girls simply cannot exercise control over when they become pregnant, especially in environments where sexual violence is so common.

For instance, in situations where sexual violence is rampant and sexual and reproductive health services are unavailable, efforts to halt Zika crisis will not be enhanced by stopping women from getting pregnant.

The UN says amid the continuing spread of the virus, authorities must ensure that their public health responses were pursued in conformity with human health-related rights obligations.

It wants governments ensure that women, men and adolescents have access to comprehensive and Health services must be delivered in a way that ensures the woman’s informed consent, respect for her dignity and the guarantee of her privacy.

`Laws and policies that restrict her access to these services must be urgently reviewed in line with human rights obligations in order to ensure the right to health for all in practice.

WHO's roadmap for Zika vaccine development

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has begun mapping existing Research & Development efforts for Zika in order to prioritize medical products and approaches that should be fast-tracked into development.

The global health body said such products will be reviewed by expert advisory committees as soon as possible.

At least 12 groups working on Zika vaccines all in the early stages of development, but availability of licensed products could take a few years.

Currently, most research that could be useful for Zika has been carried out on other flaviviruses – such as dengue or yellow fever.

The WHO had earlier invited interested companies to submit potential products to its Emergency Assessment and Listing procedure.

Diagnostics are a top urgency in order to ascertain the presence of the Zika virus as opposed to other similar diseases caused by flaviviruses with mosquito vectors.

This procedure, once a product has been accepted, guarantees acceptable levels of quality and performance and allows UN agencies, NGOs and countries to procure the product with confidence.

Some studies are being carried out on prophylactic therapeutics that would work in the same way as prophylaxis for malaria.

WHO is also working on establishing regulatory support networks to fast-track approval of clinical trials in countries.

Advocacy on timely samples and data sharing among groups undertaking R&D studies on Zika, to ensure the best science is brought to bear on research and development.

The  WHO’s R&D efforts on Zika are part of the overall work on a roadmap – the R&D Blueprint - for better R&D preparedness based on the experience of the R&D work carried out during the West-Africa Ebola outbreak.

The roadmap will enable roll-out of an emergency R&D response as early and as efficiently as possible for emerging diseases for which there are no, or few, countermeasures. In December 2015, WHO held a consultation to identify a short-list of pathogens to be prioritized immediately for R&D preparedness. Zika was identified as a serious risk, needing further action as soon as possible.