TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
UN: Zika virus should spark review of birth control access
Youth play on a street with stagnate floodwater in the Parque Sao Bento shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan
Change Size
Youth play on a street with stagnate floodwater in the Parque Sao Bento shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan. 29. Brazil's first case of Zika, a virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and subsequently spread to parts of Asia, was recorded in the middle of last year. (AP/Leo Correa) (AP/Leo Correa)
Y
span class="inline inline-center">Youth play on a street with stagnate floodwater in the Parque Sao Bento shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan. 29. Brazil's first case of Zika, a virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and subsequently spread to parts of Asia, was recorded in the middle of last year. (AP/Leo Correa)
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says laws and policies that restrict access to birth control services must be repealed amid the explosive outbreak of the Zika virus in the Americas, which has been linked to an increase in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.
In a statement issued on Friday, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the advice of some governments to women to delay getting pregnant "ignores the reality" that many women have little control over the circumstances in which that happens.
To date, the mosquito-borne virus has spread to more than 20 countries in the Americas, including some where sexual violence is rampant, Al Hussein said. He called for laws restricting access to sexual and reproductive health services to be urgently reviewed.
