Zika: From the Brazilian Backlands to Global Threat

2017 | History & Politics

The Zika virus has devastated lives and communities, with children across the Americas left with severe disabilities as a result of the latest epidemic. Nowhere has this devastation been more felt than in Alagoas, a small rural province in northeast Brazil. It was here that the most recent outbreak was first identified, and from here that it rapidly spread across the continent and beyond, with the region's poverty providing fertile ground for Zika-bearing mosquitoes. In this thought-provoking and at times poignant work, anthropologist and filmmaker Debora Diniz travels throughout north eastern Brazil, tracing the virus's origin and spread, as well as uncovering its impact on local communities. From interviewing doctors to keeping expectant mothers company in waiting rooms, Diniz paints a vivid picture of the Zika epidemic as experienced by ordinary Brazilians.

In the process, she exposes the Brazilian government's complicity in allowing the virus to spread through their inaction and denial, and champions the efforts of local doctors and mothers who, working together, have made great strides in raising awareness of the virus, and in fighting for the rights of children affected by Zika.

Debora Diniz (Author)

Diane Grosklaus Whitty (Author)