TVC E. The United Nations Human Rights watch under the chairmanship of Zeid Al’Hussein on Monday in Geneva has called on affected countries with the Zika Virus to make available sexual and reproductive health counselling to women and uphold their right to terminate pregnancies.
The commissioner Al’Hussein said, in a statement that laws and policies that restrict women access to these services must be urgently reviewed in line with human rights obligations.
He also said, that this has become necessary in order to ensure any affected woman the right to health for all in practice.
This is because the virus has been found to be harmful to kids, it leads to babies being born with small heads and birth defects the medical term is microcephaly.
The United States of America Centre for Disease Control & Prevention states that microcephaly is linked to
- Seizures
- Developmental delay, such as problems with speech or other developmental milestones (like sitting, standing, and walking)
- Intellectual disability (decreased ability to learn and function in daily life)
- Problems with movement and balance
- Feeding problems, such as difficulty swallowing
- Hearing loss
- Vision problems
His Spokeswoman, Cecile Pouilly, said there are some Countries like El Salvador, Malta, Poland and Liechtenstein amongst others that criminalize abortion.
She explained that as a result of such law, the commission was asking those governments to go back and change those laws.
Pouilly said it has become so urgent to change the law because such countries cannot ask the affected women not to become pregnant.
She said such countries must make available first information and also the possibility to stop their pregnancies if they wish so.
The current outbreak of Zika Virus, a mosquito-bourne virus has spread around South America. Thousands of people including pregnant women have been infected.
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