The Zika virus has been affirmed international health crisis by the World Health Organization (WHO). Public health officials are concerned about its possible link to birth defects. Nevertheless the virus was not a top priority for researchers, until the latest global uproar—and that has become a problem, particularly at this time when the race to get to know Zika and alleviate its effects is taking place.
In order to fight this course, Google.org is donating a $1 million to UNICEF as grant to fight Zika. This donation is meant to be used for reducing the number of mosquitoes in the areas affected; work with governments and communities, as well as support vaccine research to put a stop to Zika transmission.
In addition, Google.org is implanting a team of data scientists, Google engineers and designers to assist UNICEF to systematize the data they gather to make it more understandable to the public and some other organization putting head together to fight Zika.
Identifying the risk of Zika transmission for diverse regions and aid governments, UNICEF and NGO take a decision on how and where to center their time and wherewithal is the ultimate goal of this open source platform.
Google search has included information about Zika in 16 different languages in an attempt to create awareness of the virus, giving a general idea of the virus, warning signs and a public health alert that can be restructured with latest information. With this development, Google opines that it has noticed over 3,000 percent rises in searches on the virus ever since November. Furthermore, Google has signed up popular YouTube creators in Latin America, like Brazilian physician Drauzio Varella, to create more awareness about Zika avoidance on their channels.
The spread of Zika has been more difficult to contain, identify and map, unlike a lot of other global pandemics. The believe is that 4 out of 5 people living with the virus don’t exhibit any signs, while mosquito Aedes aegypti – the chief transmitter for the disease is both prevalent and difficult to get rid of.
Fighting Zika involves increasing awareness about the way people can care for themselves and giving support to organizations that can impel development of speedy diagnostics and vaccines. Google.org is also looking for better ways to picture the threat in order for the NGOs and public health officials to support communities at risk.