Zika : From the Brazilian Backlands to Global Threat

Winner of the 2017 Jabuti Book Prize

The Zika virus is devastating lives and communities. Children across the Americas are being born with severe disabilities because of it. Yet during the desolating outbreak, Brazil played host to both the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, leading many to suspect that the true impact of the virus has been subject to a cover-up of international proportions.

Beginning in the northeast, where the devastation has been most felt, professor of bioethics and award-winning documentary filmmaker Debora Diniz travels across Brazil tracing the virus's origin and spread. Along the journey she meets a host of fearless families, doctors and scientists uncovering the virus's impact on local communities. In doing so Diniz paints a vivid picture of the Zika epidemic, exposing the Brazilian government's complicity in allowing the virus to spread while championing the efforts of local doctors and mothers who, working together, are raising awareness of the virus and fighting for the rights of children affected by Zika.

“Captivating … the reader is moved through the interviews on a page-turning, well written, and carefully constructed narrative arch. Nevertheless, the book's greatest strength is that it is based on scientifically sound and well conducted ethnographic research.” —The Lancet

“Ingeniously crafted and affectingly narrated, Zika is a momentous contribution to the critical study of science and global health.” —João Biehl, Princeton University

“A masterfully researched and wide-ranging narrative of Zika in Brazil. Unforgettable.” —Kearsley Stewart, Duke University

“A compassionate and inclusive look at the impact of the Zika epidemic: from the mothers of affected babies to the race for an effective treatment.” —Laura Rodrigues, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

“Diniz illustrates the devastating effects that Zika's spread has had on impoverished women, and how government scientists and policy makers failed to live up to their responsibilities toward those affected. A brilliant read, highly recommended!” —Udo Schuklenk, Queen's University, Canada