LatinNews Daily - 4 February 2016

Brazil: On 29 January US President Barack Obama and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff discussed via telephone their concerns over the spreading Zika virus and the need to collaborate regarding efforts to tackle the problem. The two leaders agreed on the need to advance research and to develop better vaccines and technology to combat the mosquito-borne virus. According to a White House press release, “The leaders agreed to continue to prioritize building national, regional, and global capacity to combat infectious disease threats more broadly”. On 1 February the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, convened an emergency committee to discuss the issues Latin America and the Caribbean are facing in combating the Zika virus. In a press release issued after the meeting, Chan said “The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven. All agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better”.

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