Google Donating $1M, Engineering Resources To Combat Zika

“Unlike many other global pandemics, the spread of Zika has been harder to identify, map and contain,” said Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google’s nonprofit arm. In other outbreak news, Republican lawmakers continue to be skeptical of the president's emergency funding request, saying there's money left that was earmarked for Ebola. Health officials, however, warn that would cripple the efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine.

Google is now involved in the fight against the Zika virus. The tech giant announced Thursday that it is giving UNICEF a $1-million grant to raise awareness about Zika transmission, and is also dedicating software engineering and data science resources to help process information about the virus’ outbreaks. Its support for UNICEF will include developing a platform that processes data from different sources, such as weather and travel patterns; visualizing potential outbreaks; and making Zika virus information more accessible through its search feature in 16 languages. (Lien, 3/3)

Republican representatives continue to question the need for about $2 billion in emergency funding requested by the Obama administration to respond to the Zika virus. Congressmen including Dr. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, asked in a hearing of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee Wednesday whether funds earmarked for combating the Ebola virus couldn't be transferred to the fight against Zika virus. But federal health officials said there's only $9 million left of the original $238 million in funding the National Institutes of Health received for Ebola virus research. (Bichell, 3/2)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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