RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 What explains the lacklustre response to Zika in Brazil? Exploring institutional, economic and health system context
JF BMJ Global Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e000862
DO 10.1136/bmjgh-2018-000862
VO 3
IS 5
A1 Eduardo J Gómez
A1 Fernanda Aguilar Perez
A1 Deisy Ventura
YR 2018
UL http://gh.bmj.com/content/3/5/e000862.abstract
AB By early-2016, the international community began to pressure Brazil for a stronger policy response to Zika. In contrast to what was seen in the past, however, these international pressures did not elicit such a response. In this article, we explore why this was the case, reviewing the government’s policy response and the broader political and economic context shaping this response. The authors used single case study analysis and qualitative sources, such as books, journal articles, and government policy reports to support their empirical claims. We found that despite increased international pressures from the WHO, domestic political factors and economic recession hampered the government’s ability to strengthen its health systems response to Zika. Consequently, those states most afflicted by Zika have seen policy initiatives that lack sufficient funding, administrative and human resource capacity. This study revealed that despite a government’s deep foreign policy history of positively responding to international pressures through a stronger policy response to health epidemics, a sudden change in government, rising political instability, and economic recession can motivate governments to abandon this foreign policy tradition and undermine its response to new public health threats.