Zika became a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in February 2016 garnering international attention. There was a need to understand risk perception and behaviours related to Zika specifically, but also to gain knowledge on how risk is perceived in the context of an emerging disease outbreak.
In response, IFRC and Save the Children in Latin America and the Caribbean carried out a total of 2,711 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys collecting data at the household level.
Results showed that awareness about Zika disease was high but understanding about what made it different from other mosquito-borne diseases was poor. Conversely, stigma and discrimination associated with the disease were low. Lack of knowledge about sexual transmission may have played a role in this.
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