The World Health Organisation has declared the clusters of birth defects linked to the Zika virus a public health emergency. At the centre of the crisis is Brazil, where more than 4,000 women have given birth to babies with abnormally small heads due to microcephaly, suspected of being linked to the virus. Jacqueline Jessica de Oliveira’s daughter was born with the condition. We share her story.

Elsewhere on the site

Opinion

The UN’s move to enshrine access to a safe, hygienic toilet as a fundamental human right is admirable, but it is not enough to make it a reality, argues Rosalind Malcolm. “Action will always speak louder than law, and such laws are not worth the paper they are written on without a change in regulation, funding and attitude,” she writes.

Nigeria is not broke, says ActionAid’s Kenny Oleru. Instead, the country is giving away its wealth in harmful tax breaks. He calls for Nigeria to review its tax policies.

Multimedia

Podcast: Kary Stewart reports from Peru, where the effects of El Niño are causing landslides and flooding in shanty towns near the country’s coast.

In pictures: What do women pack in their maternity bags? Depending on whether they are giving birth in Australia or Zambia, New York or Malawi, the items taken might be luxuries or life-savers.

Video: Our video on El Salvador’s draconian abortion laws is now available to watch in Spanish – El Salvador: ‘Tuve un aborto espontáneo. El juez me acusó de homicidio’

What you said

On A war on drugs? We’d be better off paying for a war on hunger, martindrewry wrote:

Given there’s such agreement among us about the terrible consequences of the war on drugs on the poor and poverty reduction, how about a few more development organisations speaking out about it? Come on guys!

Highlight from the blogosphere

Why isn’t aid for infrastructure going to the countries that need it most? asks the Overseas Development Institute.

And finally …

Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global development website. Follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @swajones, @LizFordGuardian, @clarnic and @CarlaOkai – on Twitter, and join Guardian Global development on Facebook.