[MUSIC] And the first occurrence of Zika in our columns wasn't about the our break in French Polynesia, but in Brazil and only not until January 2016. And as other French media, they're very late to talk about this outbreak. For instance, there is no stories written about the outbreak in Polynesia, which is strange, because these are French territories, French departments, but it was really under the radar. Then the outbreak in Brazil started in 2015, but the signals were different from the previous years as microcephaly was observed in a huge proportion compared to the previous years. And this was really what spurred the coverage in our columns. And the first article about Zika was written by Claire Gatinois, she's our correspondent in Brazil, in Sao Paulo. And she went to North East province of Brazil, precisely to cover the situation and what happened to those mothers who had been infected during their pregnancy and gave birth to children with microcephaly. And this was really something we hadn't see coming. And we addressed all issues with this outbreak. Not only the medical ones, but also the questions that were asked to the Brazilian society and other countries in Latin America. Mainly about abortion, because it wasn't illegal in this country, Brazil as in many other Latin America countries. And this was an issue because, in French Polynesia women could abort, even if there were few cases of microcephaly and greater number of Guillain-Barre Syndrome cases. So the second big article was, that coverage the story about abortion debates in Brazil and a situation which hasn't changed. And what was really something striking, is that our correspondent insisted on covering theses outbreak. Because she was also very had a lot of work, because at the very same time, Brazil was going through a political crisis with the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff the President of Brazil. And as well as other issues like the Olympic games that will happen during the summer of 2016. But she really felt that it has to be addressed and so we followed up and really catch up on this issue with stories that would just explain, what is Zika? Things that were supposed to be known about it, as there are no treatment, no cure for this disease. What could be done to protect, and to prevent infection by Zika virus, and what could be done also in the resurgent development, to find cures, treatments, vaccines against this virus. And others were things that were more let's say, political in the way things happened or what kind of explanation that could be. Because there were some issues raised about pesticides or whatever other reasons that may cause microcephaly, but this was unheard of. Including in the medical literature world wide and we also could see how WHO reacted to this outbreak. WHO had been really exposed and criticized for they way it managed the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa. And there's critics, I've been strong enough to lead a reform to WHO. And including the way it could respond to emergencies, health emergencies and public health crisis. So WHO obviously had learned the lesson, or wanted to show it has learned the lesson and reacted promptly to the outbreak of Zika. And decided it was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. So this is a striking difference compared to the other outbreaks. But what is striking looking backward is that what happened with the outbreak in French Polynesia, that went under the radar. Reminds a lot of what happened with chikungunya a few years earlier in Indian Ocean. And especially in La Reine, an island which is a French department. And in Le Monde, and likely in other French medias. It wasn't covered, addressed until there was several thousand cases a week. So this is also a lesson for media, to say things can unfold while media are looking elsewhere and we should address also those outbreaks. Because they may really lead to something that expand geographically, as we've seen with Zika. But also we've developments and complications that are really unexpected like microcephaly with Zika. Being a medical doctor by trade also help me, because very often when I'm dealing with issues that are really serious concerns. A disease which could be lethal or having serious consequences for people effected by this disease. Thinking of people who are going to read your stories like someone you could be talking to while being a doctor and talking to one of his or her patients. It's really a good way to find let's say, something that is balanced and sticking to giving information. And not telling people what they think, but just giving them enough information as they requested to make their own decisions. So in case of Zika for instance, of course the situation was different for people who were living in areas that were concerned by the outbreak and people who could just travel to those areas. So for the first one of course, there are thing that had to be taken care of by the authorities. Fighting against mosquitoes and giving advises, information to the population just to try to get rid of the mosquitoes around in their close environment or in their home is very important. Giving advice about the way to protect yourself with insect repellent products and so on is crucial. And this is the best thing to do, and the other is knowing you are infected or not. And this also lies in the hands of the authorities being able to offer to the population ways of being informed, being tested, and so on. So media cover this part of it, the fight against mosquitoes. How it is organized and try to be as comprehensive as could be. For travelers of course the issues are a bit different because they just have to take precautions as they could take precautions against malaria, when they are traveling to an affected area or an affected country. So it's really very practical and there have been also serious advice given by WHO about women say, really postponed any pregnancy project you may have after you traveled to that region which is of course different from what happens for two people living there. And we've heard especially talking about travelers but there are a lot of people, huge crowd coming to Brazil for the Olympics. And there has been some athletes for instance saying no, I'm not going to Rio and I'm not taking any chances with this outbreak. So I don't want to be infected and I won't go there, even if it's the Olympics. Of course, knowing what Olympics means for an athlete, this is something that really may frighten people. Because if an athlete say, no, I'm skipping the Olympics well, there's not so many chances in an athlete's life to go there. This is really meaningful. [MUSIC]