Associated organisationsFederal University of Pernambuco · London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · Fundação Oswaldo CruzEurope PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding£3.6M
PeriodOct 2022 — Jun 2030
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Children born during Brazil’s Zika epidemic are now entering school, and this project will track how prenatal Zika exposure shapes their health, learning, and family life over the first twelve years of life. The problem is that while the immediate effects of Congenital Zika Syndrome—such as microcephaly—are known, the long-term prognosis remains unclear. No one has systematically followed these children through childhood to see what late-emerging health problems, learning difficulties, or hospitalisations arise, nor how families cope years after the public health emergency ended. This project fills that gap by linking clinical assessments, nationwide health records, and interviews with families. If successful, the research could change how health and education systems prepare for children with prenatal Zika exposure. It could identify when and why late-onset symptoms appear, what learning support children need, and how families’ wellbeing is affected—including the added strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings may also guide how researchers handle sensitive data during future health emergencies, ensuring families’ trust is not broken. This is applied, not fundamental science: the goal is actionable knowledge for clinicians, educators, and policymakers in Brazil and beyond.
View original technical description
Using unparalleled epidemiological, administrative, and social science data continuously collected from 2015 onwards in Brazil, this collaborative proposal aims to define the prognosis and learning needs of school-aged children with prenatal exposure to Zika virus (ZIKV) and the long-term health and social impacts for families of children with Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). Through four linked work packages, we will: (i) define the natural history of CZS in the first 12 years of life, including the frequency of late-onset manifestations, hospitalizations, and deaths, (ii) compare neurodevelopment and learning-related outcomes in children with and without CZS, (iii) evaluate long-term consequences of CZS for families, including implications of COVID-19, and (iv) critically interrogate the experience of families engaging in research and data sharing initiatives during and after public health emergencies. To achieve these aims, we are requesting resources to perform comprehensive clinical and neurodevelopmental assessments in the Microcephaly Epidemic Research Group and ZIKAIFF Pediatric Cohorts in Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro states, undertake a nationwide individual participant data meta-analysis of ZIKV-related clinical and neurodevelopmental outcomes among children in the Zika Brazilian Cohorts Consortium, link large-scale nationwide electronic health and social records in the CIDACS/Fiocruz Zika Platform, and conduct qualitative research with key stakeholders.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know