On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) (I) after information surfaced that linked Zika virus infections with clusters of microcephaly and other neurological complications. While not new (1), the virus began to rapidly spread across the Americas after first being recorded in 2015. By February 4, 2016, 26 countries reported Zika virus infections (II).

By: Elga Salvador

The maternity hospital, Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia, holds the record of the first birth of 2019 in the Dominican Republic for the sixth consecutive year. On the same day, the same hospital also holds another record: this is the third year in which the first baby was born to an adolescent mother [1,2]. This is no longer a surprise in a country where the percentage of pregnancy in adolescents has never been lower than 20% in the last 23 years [3].