Health

 Debilitating Care

Brazil’s Zika epidemic left thousands of children with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), most born to structurally vulnerable Black and mixed-race mothers who now carry the burden of lifelong care. The relentless demands of caregiving—shaped by poverty, fragmented services, and bureaucratic barriers—gradually wear mothers down physically and mentally. Their stories show how epidemics produce wider, unevenly distributed forms of embodied harm beyond those directly diagnosed with disease.