283: Mapping Zika and Dengue in Colombia's city of Cali

Mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika, malaria or Chikungunya, continue to be a huge health problem in Latin America, including in Colombia. Every year over one million people die worldwide from mosquito-related diseases.
On Ep238 we have a great opportunity to learn about how silicon valley is collecting data in the city of Cali and employing it to help map out breeding grounds for mosquitos carrying the Zika or Dengue virus. Premise (www.premise.com) is the company in question and Daniela Rubio, the Program Manager joins us on the line from Mexico City. 

To provide you with a little information and background: The primary way of controlling mosquitos is by removing their breeding grounds which are generally found in containers with standing water. Vector surveillance and vector control require government workers to cover vast terrain performing time and labor intensive activities. Often the local governments lack a large number of resources needed to perform these tasks.

Premise’s solution works to fill information gaps for cities by empowering local citizens to collect data on positive breeding sites in their communities. Through the Premise App, local citizens are able to complete different Zika monitoring tasks. These include walking mapped routes, inspecting public spaces and homes, asking questions, taking photos and even destroying breeding sites. The tasks are co-designed with local health authorities to train an average citizen to identify and destroy mosquito breeding sites that can be found on a regular street, public park or in a house.

So, tune in to hear a fascinating episode about how technology is implementing change in Cali and improving lives.