Predict and Prevent

Rapid ecological and social changes are increasing the risk of emerging threats, from infectious diseases to drought and other environmental disasters. This initiative will use information and technology to empower communities to predict and prevent emerging threats before they become local, regional, or global crises.

Google.org's initial focus is on emerging infectious diseases, which are on the rise worldwide. Climate change, deforestation, and rising international travel and trade all contribute to this threat. Moreover, humans and animals are coming into closer contact because of environmental degradation and increased demand for animal products. Nearly three out of four new diseases spread from animals to humans. While everyone faces increasing risk from emerging infectious diseases, the world's poor – who have minimal or no access to health care and may live with and depend on animals for their livelihood – are exceptionally vulnerable and stand to suffer the most.

Today, emerging diseases are generally detected once they are already entrenched in the human population, and response systems are often slow and uneven. This initiative supports the move from a reactive to a proactive response to emerging threats.

Know where to look

Understanding the complex drivers that lead to emerging threats can help communities anticipate surprises and reduce vulnerability. Google.org is focusing on:

  • Sharing knowledge across human, animal, and environmental health sectors
  • Improving data collection, sharing, and analysis for enhanced vulnerability mapping and predictive modeling
  • Applying risk-based approaches to target surveillance and management programs

Find threats earlier

Better detection can help surface the earliest indicators of disease, contributing to more timely warning about emerging threats. Google.org is focusing on:

  • Digital detection: supporting technology and efforts to detect early online 'signals' of emerging threats
  • Genetic detection: accelerating the discovery of new pathogens through molecular methods
  • Supporting the development of point of care diagnostics for use in developing countries
  • Estimating flu activity up to two weeks faster than traditional systems with Google Flu Trends

Respond quickly

Timely, accurate, and accessible information can help prevent localized health crises from becoming regional or global threats. Google.org is focusing on:

  • Using innovative methods and supporting regional networks to quickly find threats wherever they occur
  • Confirming outbreaks and identifying their cause
  • Alerting key stakeholders, from villagers to global health authorities

See Google.org's Grants & Investments page for a list of current partners. For a closer look, please read our initiative brief or Larry Brilliant's speech from the March 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Digital and Genetic Detection, Regional Networks
 Open in Google Earth (21 KB KMZ file)


While we are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time, if you are an individual, company, or non-profit working in the following specific issue areas and are interested in a partnership, please contact us.

  • Collection of specimens at the human/animal interface to identify and map hot spots
  • Innovative, event-based surveillance at the community level in the developing world
  • Integrated vulnerability mapping to the drivers of emerging infectious diseases
  • Solutions that increase the speed and/or decrease the cost of identifying new diseases
  • Disease diagnosis and surveillance technologies particularly suited to developing countries
  • Point-of-care diagnostic tests that are accurate, simple, and cost effective

 

Explore flu trends across the U.S.


In low-income, rural communities, people often share their living quarters with several different species of animals. As most emerging infectious diseases in the developing world are zoonoses, i.e., they spread from animals to humans, the result is a dual burden to the poor. Zoonoses lead to human disease and death, but also to the loss of animals which represent essential food, savings and productive capacity for the poor. Furthermore, when human infection strikes, health care facilities for accurate diagnosis and treatment are remote or nonexistent.




Video: Introduction to Google.org's new initiative, Predict and Prevent. Its goal is to identify "hot spots" and enable rapid response to emerging threats, such as infectious disease and climate risk.