Google Supports UNICEF In Fight Against Zika Virus

Google donates $1 million to UNICEF and provides engineers to combat the deadly Zika virus.

Google is trying to safeguard the lives of people. WHO declared Zika virus disease as a global health emergency. Officials of the public health department are worried about its possible connection to birth defects.

Until the recent worldwide outcry, the disease was not the utmost priority for researchers but is currently a problem that the race to understand Zika and mitigate its effects is on. This is exactly the kind of cause attracting the search giant’s philanthropic unit Google.org, which provides brainpower and grants to non-profit organizations. Today, it announced a grant of $1 million to UNICEF to battle with Zika.

The donation intends to cut down the population of mosquitoes in affected regions, work with governments and communities to support vaccine research in order to prevent the transmission of Zika.

Google.org also embeds a group of designers, data scientists, and engineers to let UNICEF organize the data collected by them on ground so that it becomes more understandable for the masses and organizations trying to fight Zika.

1. org’s spokesperson would not reveal precise number of employees currently embedded with the child-friendly program of the UN, but it has revealed that a team of volunteers tries to develop its open source platform to process data provided by a variety of sources, including travel and weather patterns, to envisage possible outbreaks.

The objective is to let NGOs and governments use the technology of Google’s philanthropic division to determine whether their own resources would be spent in the best manner. The company is using the Google-y method to fight Zika.

It has added “Zika” to its search tool that quickly provides healthcare details that includes updating alerts on public health in actual time, to persons searching about the virus.

Results will also be translated in 16 various languages. Google’s Youtube is also collaborating with video developers in the Latin American region to spread details about the prevention of Zika.

Inside itself, the company started a program for raising donations from its employees to fund half a million to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and UNICEF to support them in combating the virus.

In other news, USA Today reported that the mapping service provider has filed a statement with other tech giants, such as Facebook, to support Apple in battle against the US government, which wants the smartphone marker to crack and access data stored in the iPhone of a San Bernardino shooter.