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As Zika Threat Grows, Texas Moms Lack Health Care Access (Audio)

Clinics in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the poorest regions in the country, are ill-equipped to handle the health threat presented by the Zika virus, and they aren’t alone — Texas is short on doctors.

Aedes aegypti mosquitos, carriers of the Zika virus.

Clinics in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the poorest regions in the country, are ill-equipped to handle the health threat presented by the Zika virus, and they aren’t alone — Texas is short on doctors. According to one study, Texas needs 12,000 more physicians to meet our per-capita national average. And about half the state has no OB-GYNs.

It’s an ominous report. And Zika hasn’t even arrived — yet.

Listen to the story from Reveal.

This story was produced by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast. Amy Walters can be reached at awalters@cironline.org.

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