About us
Enhanced planning and implementation of malaria elimination operations
Zzapp uses artificial intelligence to identify malaria hotspots and optimize interventions for maximum impact. Our map-based mobile app conveys the AI strategies to field workers as simple instructions, ensuring thorough implementation.
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease responsible for over 400,000 deaths per year, with children under 5 and pregnant women especially vulnerable. The parasite causing malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles, which breed in stagnant water. Malaria is often controlled by targeting the airborne adult mosquitoes, but by locating and eliminating the stagnant water bodies, malaria can be eliminated at its source.
"We always ask ourselves what insight the data analysis could provide that would give us the most value in the field"
Lea Leiman
AI Developer
The Solution
Zzapp’s software solves the operational difficulties involved in targeting stagnant water bodies for mosquito control. By analyzing satellite images and topographical maps, Zzapp’s AI identifies malaria transmission hotspots — areas where water bodies and human populations coincide.
Depending on the resources available, the system prioritizes areas to generate the most impact on disease transmission. To optimize the timing of interventions, Zzapp uses a weather analysis algorithm developed especially for Zzapp by the IBM Data Science and AI Elite team.
Strategies are communicated to field workers using a designated map-based mobile app. The app guides workers in the identification, reporting, and treatment of water bodies, streamlining the implementation. Data collected by field workers feeds back into the system for constant improvement of algorithms and recommendations.
How it all started
Zzapp was started in 2016 by Arnon Houri Yafin (CEO), who first learned about malaria while working on the development of a device that uses machine vision to detect malaria parasites in blood samples.
After witnessing the toll malaria takes on communities, he was inspired to harness artificial intelligence for the fight against malaria. Read More...
"Being out in the field I get to meet the great minds behind the science and art of malaria control. I'm proud to be able to provide tools that can help realize their vision and build on their experience."
Arbel Vigodny
COO
