International Health Regulations and public policy global diffusion: the sanitary emergency concept evolution in Brazil after Congenital Zika Syndrome

• Grant number: 18/06557-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2018
• End date: May 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Deisy de Freitas Lima Ventura
• Grantee: Paulo Roberto Ferreira Trivellato
• Host Institution: Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IRI). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The discovery of zika virus circulation in Brazilian territory, its transmission between pregnant women and fetuses and its causal relation with neurological disorders constituted a destabilizing event of authority and knowledge hierarchies within the country. Target of an epidemic of signification, the possible association between the virus and cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly in newborns was declared as a Public Health Emergency of National Concern by Brazilian Health Ministry and as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by World Health Organization Director-General, following the International Health Regulations (2005), which constitutes a global health security regime. Based on literature review and document analysis, we intend to trace the evolution of health emergency concept in Brazil, besides its evolution in international sphere, and evaluate the impact of Congenital Zika Syndrome in the process. The project will be developed within the scope of a research group on Brazilian response to zika emergency from methodological perspective of global diffusion of public policy.