Google Is Working With UNICEF To Map The Zika Virus

Google has a volunteer workforce of engineers, designers, and information scientists working with UNICEF to construct open-supply instruments to help visualize potential outbreaks of the Zika virus, studies Reuters. The Zika virus is the latest global well being epidemic and has spread to as a minimum 30 nations, primarily in Latin the united states, on account that last 12 months when it was first detected. The virus has been linked to four,863 confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly, a birth defect situation that causes infants to have strangely small heads.

Google’s workforce of volunteers is constructing a platform a good way to process knowledge from myriad sources, including go back and forth patterns and weather, to visualize potential Zika outbreaks. right now little is known concerning the Zika virus, which is believed to be transmitted by mosquitos.

“The intention of this open-supply platform used to be to determine the risk of Zika transmission for various areas and assist UNICEF, governments, and NGOs decide how and where to center of attention their time and resources,” a Google spokesperson advised Reuters.

UNICEF’s Innovation co-lead, Chris Fabian, advised Reuters the open source platform being built with the aid of Google will be multiplied for world use and in addition be used to track future disease outbreaks. in addition to the group of volunteers from Google building the platform, the corporate is also contributing to combating Zika by giving a $1 million furnish to UNICEF to help their volunteers on the ground.

Caryl M. Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, told Reuters that the furnish will enable the organization to achieve up to 200 million individuals in affected areas and provide them with knowledge on how to protect themselves. in addition to Google, other tech heavyweights have entered the Zika fray. The invoice and Melinda Gates groundwork is exploring uses of genetic engineering how you can stamp out the virus.