--- title: Zika: WHO Says to Delay Pregnancy description: The World Health Organization says people living in places with active Zika transmission should delay pregnancy canonical: https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-09T20:11:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:30:36.530Z article:section: Health og:title: WHO Says People Living in Areas With Zika Should Delay Pregnancy og:description: The World Health Organization clarifies its advice og:url: https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WHO Says People Living in Areas With Zika Should Delay Pregnancy twitter:description: The World Health Organization clarifies its advice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # WHO Says People Living in Areas With Zika Should Delay Pregnancy by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 9, 2016 8:11 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 9, 2016 8:11 PM UTC Men and women who are living in areas where [Zika](http://time.com/4318624/zika-virus-and-birth-defects-what-you-need-to-know/) is actively spreading should consider delaying pregnancy, [according to the World Health Organization](http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/204421/1/WHO%5FZIKV%5FMOC%5F16.1%5Feng.pdf?ua=1) (WHO). On Thursday, the agency released a correction to its guidance for preventing sexual transmission of Zika. “In order to prevent adverse pregnancy and fetal outcomes, men and women of reproductive age, living in areas where local transmission of Zika virus is known to occur, be correctly informed and oriented to consider delaying pregnancy,” the agency wrote. The agency said that the update to the recommendation was meant to make the agency’s recommendation to delay pregnancy more clear. “This was the original intention of the guidance,” the WHO said in a press release. The guidance was released last week, but the update added more clarity for people living in countries with active transmission compared to travelers. Other countries, like El Salvador, have been recommending that people delay pregnancies for quite some time. The country recommends people put off [pregnancy for two years](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/world/americas/el-salvadors-advice-on-zika-dont-have-babies.html). Zika has now spread to close to 50 countries. In June it was [reported](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/01/health/baby-born-microcephaly-new-jersey/) that a baby was born in New Jersey with Zika-related microcephaly. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/"},"headline":"WHO Says People Living in Areas With Zika Should Delay Pregnancy","datePublished":"2016-06-09T20:11:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:30:36.530Z","description":"The World Health Organization clarifies its advice","url":"https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/","keywords":["Zika","Mosquitoes","WHO","World Health Organization"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4363441/world-health-organization-zika-delay-pregnancy/","name":"WHO Says People Living in Areas With Zika Should Delay Pregnancy"}}]}] ```