ANALYSIS OF THE DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF THE CONGENITAL ZIKA VIRUS SYNDROME: AN INTERSECTIONAL APPROACH
Pregnant women, Zika virus, geotechnology, race, class.
The objectives of this study are to understand the occurrence and distribution of the Congenital Syndrome of Zika Virus (CZV), through the identification of factors and areas of risk between black and non-black pregnant women. An ecological study was conducted using the aggregated spatial data of Census Sectors (CS) as a unit of analysis. An intersectional methodology, considering the categories of race and class, was employed in order to process and analyse the data. The database was constructed using the notifications of confirmed cases of CZV in the period between 2015 and 2017, made available by the Directory of Epidemiological Vigilance of the State of Bahia and the municipality of Salvador. The rating of the impact of social determinants on the quality of life of the patients was calculated using socioeconomic and environmental variables. The Living Conditions Index (LCI) and Maxent’s ecological niche model were used to cross-compare variables and thereby identify the factors and areas of risk for different groups of patients. With a foundation in the analysis of this data, it was possible to identify the fact that bio-climate variables are insufficient to understand the maintenance of the vector cycle and the occurrence of arboviruses. Thematic maps produced using this data provide evidence that socioeconomic and racial variables have a fundamental role in the probability of the occurrence of new cases. This data also demonstrates the fact that black pregnant women are concentrated in the most vulnerable areas when compared to non-black women. This study contributes to the evidence of the role of institutional racism as a delineator of multiple vulnerabilities for the black population, as well as the demystification of the democracy of exposure and occurrence of illnesses caused by vectors. Thus, it is only through an inclusive and cross-cutting political intervention that inequities in health will be resolved.