World failing to come up with small funds to fight Zika

More than five months after US president Barack Obama requested $1.9bn (€1.7bn) to fight the Zika epidemic, members of Congress are going home to July 4 barbecues without approving a spending bill.

While Washington’s dysfunction is predictable given the current electoral climate, less noticed has been the global inertia facing efforts to combat the mosquito-borne disease.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has only $7.9m dedicated to fight Zika, which is spreading in 60 countries and has been blamed for more than 1,600 serious birth defects, mostly in Brazil.