As Congress dithers and Zika spreads, prevention measures urgently needed
On Tuesday, by a 52-46 margin - eight votes short of the 60 needed to pass the bill – the U.S. Senate rejected legislation that would provide funding for U.S. Zika virus response efforts. Democrats have blocked Republican legislative efforts because of language that excludes Planned Parenthood from receiving funding for contraception to combat spread of the virus, which can be sexually transmitted.
It’s been more than six months since President Obama requested $1.9 billion in funding to combat the Zika virus, and Congress has still failed to act. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has nearly exhausted the $222 million it was originally allocated to fight the virus.
As Congress dithers, Zika continues to spread to new parts of the continental U.S., threatening the brain development and nervous systems of fetuses and newborns. Zika can affect anyone, anywhere, but is a particular threat right now to the Gulf States, and most specifically to low-income, underserved communities in that region. Nearly 17,000 cases of Zika have been reported in U.S. states and territories as of Aug. 31 — more than four times the number when Congress left for its seven-week recess in July. To date, nearly 1,600 pregnant women have been infected, and at least 17 U.S. babies were born with birth defects as a result of Zika.
It’s time to address Zika – and public health crises more generally – using primary prevention strategies.
Addressing challenges only when they become emergencies puts lives on the line, and squanders resources that could have been used to prevent health threats. Communities of low income are particularly at risk of Zika, which is often the case with public health disasters. We need to insulate our communities from emerging public health risks by designing them to support health and equity. That means investing in quality, affordable housing; ensuring access to comprehensive and culturally appropriate healthcare services; and addressing unfair land use practices that place dumps in closer proximity to communities of color. It means expanding our notion of health beyond the walls of healthcare institutions, and making the conditions where people live, work, and play healthier.
In addition to taking local action, we must speak up for federal and state funds to support local health department efforts; fund clinical screening efforts; and address environmental risk factors like low-quality housing stock and inadequate mosquito control. We must expand access to reproductive healthcare services, in order to prevent sexually-transmitted Zika infections and empower women to plan their pregnancies and receive adequate prenatal care.
Over the past 14 years, federal funding to help states and localities prepare for disasters — including infectious disease outbreaks — plummeted by 30%. Chronic underfunding of public health means we tend to lurch from crisis to crisis, whether the threat comes from a virus like Ebola or Zika, or from other public health problems like gun violence and opioid abuse. Let’s stop reacting to the ongoing flood of crisis after crisis, and move upstream to prevention.