VIRUS ZIKA

The search and advertising giant – now the world’s most valuable company – is turning its attention to the Zika virus outbreak by helping UNICEF map the virus spread so it and other world healthcare organizations can better anticipate future hot points and with that knowledge better meet the health crisis.

“The recent Zika virus outbreak has caused concern around the world,” said Google in a March 3 post. “We’ve seen more than a 3,000 percent increase in global search interest since November, and last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency. The possible correlation with Zika, microcephaly and other birth defects is particularly alarming.

“But unlike many other global pandemics, the spread of Zika has been harder to identify, map and contain. It’s believed that 4 in 5 people with the virus don’t show any symptoms, and the primary transmitter for the disease, the Aedes mosquito species, is both widespread and challenging to eliminate.

“That means that fighting Zika requires raising awareness on how people can protect themselves, as well as supporting organizations who can help drive the development of rapid diagnostics and vaccines. We also have to find better ways to visualize the threat so that public health officials and NGO’s can support communities at risk.”

Google says because it’s in the information business and has vast experience analyzing data it’s in a good position to help the global effort to stem the virus spread “at scale and at speed.”

It’s also giving $1 million to UNICEF toward the effort and asking Google employees to contribute another $500,000.

“A volunteer team of Google engineers, designers, and data scientists is helping UNICEF build a platform to process data from different sources (i.e., weather and travel patterns) in order to visualize potential outbreaks,” explained the Google post. “Ultimately, the goal of this open source platform is to identify the risk of Zika transmission for different regions and help UNICEF, governments and NGO’s decide how and where to focus their time and resources. This set of tools is being prototyped for the Zika response, but will also be applicable to future emergencies.”

Google says its $1 million grant to UNICEF will be used primarily in Brazil and other regions of Latin America raise awareness about the virus (and counter misinformation), reduce virus-carrying mosquito populations and prevent Zika spread through development of better diagnostics and vaccines.

“We already include robust information for 900+ health conditions directly on Search for people in the U.S.,” Google said. “We’ve now also added extensive information about Zika globally in 16 languages, with an overview of the virus, symptom information, and Public Health Alerts from that can be updated with new information as it becomes available.

“We’re also working with popular YouTube creators across Latin America, includingSesame Street and Brazilian physician Drauzio Varella, to raise awareness about Zika prevention via their channels.”

Google also produced a map to show the 3,000 percent sudden increase in search about the Zika virus.