ABSTRACT
In November 2015, the Brazilian Health Ministry declared a Public Health Emergency of National Concern because of a rapid increase in unexpected, and unexplained, cases of microcephaly in newborn babies in the northeastern region. This chapter describes some crucial details about Brazil’s public health landscape and the early history of the epidemic. In 1988, health as a human right was enshrined in the Brazilian Constitution, ensuring that the state takes appropriate responsibility and action in offering policies and services to all Brazilian citizens. Political contexts, scientific uncertainties and state trajectories enact complexities and produce different meanings and actions on Zika. Scientists affirm that Zika is here to stay and, just as Dengue and Chikungunya, has become endemic to Brazil and most other countries in the Americas. It will in time reappear in epidemic form once herd immunity wanes.
