Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne virus spread primarily by <i>Aedes</i> mosquitoes. Zika cases have been detected throughout the mosquito’s range, with an epidemic occurring from 2015 to 2017 in Brazil. Many Zika cases are mild or asymptomatic, but infections in pregnant women can caus...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/8/1/38 |
| _version_ | 1797436681995943936 |
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| author | Michael Touchton Brian Wampler |
| author_facet | Michael Touchton Brian Wampler |
| author_sort | Michael Touchton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne virus spread primarily by <i>Aedes</i> mosquitoes. Zika cases have been detected throughout the mosquito’s range, with an epidemic occurring from 2015 to 2017 in Brazil. Many Zika cases are mild or asymptomatic, but infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly in children, and a small percentage of cases result in Guillan–Barré syndrome. There is currently little systematic information surrounding the municipal spread of the Zika Virus in Brazil. This article uses coarsened exact matching with negative binomial estimation and ordinary least squares estimation to assess the determinants of Zika incidence across the ~280,000 cases confirmed and recorded by Brazil’s Ministry of Health in 2016 and 2017. These data come from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in Brazil and have not been published. We use data on the universe of individual Zika cases in Brazil and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to examine the virus at the municipal level across 5570 municipalities and construct a unique, unusually rich dataset covering daily Zika transmission. Additionally, our dataset includes corresponding local data on democratic governance, mosquito control efforts, and environmental conditions to estimate their relationship to Zika transmission. The results demonstrate that the presence of subnational democratic, participatory policymaking institutions and high levels of local state capacity are associated with low rates of Zika contraction. These models control for local healthcare spending and economic conditions, among other factors, that also influence Zika contraction rates. In turn, these findings provide a better understanding of what works for local health governance and mosquito control and makes important data public so that scholars and practitioners can perform their own analyses. Stronger models of Zika transmission will then inform mosquito abatement efforts across the Global South, as well as provide a blueprint for combatting Dengue fever, which is also transmitted by <i>Aedes</i> mosquitoes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:05:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60b96473b51c42a78d32e73606cb15fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2414-6366 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:05:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease |
| spelling | doaj.art-60b96473b51c42a78d32e73606cb15fa2023-12-01T00:58:14ZengMDPI AGTropical Medicine and Infectious Disease2414-63662023-01-01813810.3390/tropicalmed8010038Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the AmericasMichael Touchton0Brian Wampler1Department of Political Science, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USAPresident’s Office of Public Engagement, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USAThe Zika virus is a mosquito-borne virus spread primarily by <i>Aedes</i> mosquitoes. Zika cases have been detected throughout the mosquito’s range, with an epidemic occurring from 2015 to 2017 in Brazil. Many Zika cases are mild or asymptomatic, but infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly in children, and a small percentage of cases result in Guillan–Barré syndrome. There is currently little systematic information surrounding the municipal spread of the Zika Virus in Brazil. This article uses coarsened exact matching with negative binomial estimation and ordinary least squares estimation to assess the determinants of Zika incidence across the ~280,000 cases confirmed and recorded by Brazil’s Ministry of Health in 2016 and 2017. These data come from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in Brazil and have not been published. We use data on the universe of individual Zika cases in Brazil and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to examine the virus at the municipal level across 5570 municipalities and construct a unique, unusually rich dataset covering daily Zika transmission. Additionally, our dataset includes corresponding local data on democratic governance, mosquito control efforts, and environmental conditions to estimate their relationship to Zika transmission. The results demonstrate that the presence of subnational democratic, participatory policymaking institutions and high levels of local state capacity are associated with low rates of Zika contraction. These models control for local healthcare spending and economic conditions, among other factors, that also influence Zika contraction rates. In turn, these findings provide a better understanding of what works for local health governance and mosquito control and makes important data public so that scholars and practitioners can perform their own analyses. Stronger models of Zika transmission will then inform mosquito abatement efforts across the Global South, as well as provide a blueprint for combatting Dengue fever, which is also transmitted by <i>Aedes</i> mosquitoes.https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/8/1/38ZikaBrazilParticipationhealth governancehealth policyDengue |
| spellingShingle | Michael Touchton Brian Wampler Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Zika Brazil Participation health governance health policy Dengue |
| title | Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas |
| title_full | Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas |
| title_fullStr | Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas |
| title_short | Democratizing Public Health: Participatory Policymaking Institutions, Mosquito Control, and Zika in the Americas |
| title_sort | democratizing public health participatory policymaking institutions mosquito control and zika in the americas |
| topic | Zika Brazil Participation health governance health policy Dengue |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/8/1/38 |
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