Internet Giant’s Charity Arm, Google.org to Help Unicef in Fighting Zika

Google announced that it's working with Unicef in their effort to track the spread of Zika Virus. The company will also donate $1 million to support the program.

Google.org director Jacquelline Fuller said in a blog post that a volunteer team of engineers, data scientist and designers from their company is building a computer platform to help the organization in analyzing the data from sources such as travel patterns and weather to predict possible outbreaks, Business-Standard reported.

"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," said Fuller. "This set of tools is being prototyped for the Zika response, but will also be applicable to future emergencies."

The internet giant also launched a campaign that will match employee donations aiming to provide an additional $500,000 for Pan American Health Organization and Unicef for their efforts to fight Zika.

"Google ramped the amount of Zika-related health information, and the number of languages in which they are provided, at its search engine and backed YouTube videos aimed at raising awareness," Fuller said.

Google's $1 million donation will be used for Unicef's efforts in reducing mosquito populations; awareness, prevention; and developing vaccines and diagnostics.

Zika virus is rapidly spreading in the Americas and could hit as many as four million people, the World Health Organization warns, according to Voice of America.

Four thousand suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil are allegedly caused by Zika virus. Its symptoms included underdeveloped brain and under sized head of a newborn baby. Unfortunately, there is no treatment available to cure either microcephaly or the Zika virus itself.

Meanwhile, the health ministry stated that the first case of Zika virus in Cuba was detected in a Venezuelan doctor who traveled to the island for postgraduate studies.