Women Empowered (WE) Fighting Zika in Guatemala

WE is a PCI global initiative dedicated to promoting the economic and social empowerment of women through the formation of self-managed and self-sustaining savings groups (15-25 women per group). [See the video below to get a sense of the operation of one WE group in Guatemala.] As part of their participation in these groups, WE members identify issues of social concern that they want to further explore in their communities, as well as commitments to action. A few of the groups have chosen Zika as a social topic that merits further awareness and action. So, as part of PCI's Zika work in Guatemala, educational and awareness sessions in WE meetings are taking place to teach members how to take action and disseminate information about Zika. Women are learning about Zika transmission and prevention, the importance of vector control, and what they can do in their households to contribute to their own and their community's health. Using printed/pictorial materials as guides, WE group members themselves lead community conversations on Zika.

WE group members also help PCI staff understand women's concerns and the barriers they might face in prevention. This coheres with PCI's belief that the right communication, engagement, and mobilisation strategies are based on facts but also seek to understand communities' perceptions and fears that can affect the decision to act upon knowledge they just learned. Public Health Risk Communication (PHRC) is a strategy that combines these communication functions. It proactively seeks to identify myths and misinformation that affect prevention and access to care, which can also result in stigma and discrimination of those affected. In a public health emergency, PCI explains, the solutions to the problems rely heavily on the public's capacity to understand, make sense of the information they are hearing, and behave accordingly. Without the communities' participation and engagement, prevention is very difficult, and access to care gets complicated or delayed.

Health

Zika is causing worldwide concern. While most people who are infected report symptoms of mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, and muscle and joint pain, the possibility for pregnant women to be infected and have their babies suffering from a serious and sometimes deadly birth defect called microcephaly is the biggest concern. Adults and children also can suffer from Guillain Barré syndrome, a rare condition in which a person's immune system attacks their peripheral nerve resulting in temporary paralysis. As infections continued to rise in Latin and Central America, in February 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a "public health emergency of international concern" and called for the empowering of communities to reduce risk, vulnerabilities, and exposure through community engagement and mobilisation.