ZzappMalaria, the developer of a mobile-app and managerial dashboard that helps eliminate malaria, has won first place in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Competition as well as the People's Choice Award as the "Most Inspiring Team."
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The company will receive a $3 million prize to continue driving forward its mission of ridding the world of the deadly mosquito-borne disease.
Malaria kills more than 400,000 people yearly, most of whom are children under the age of five, and greatly impedes developing economies. The disease has been eliminated from many countries through large-scale operations that targeted the water bodies in which the malaria-bearing mosquitoes breed. However, similar operations have failed in several African countries due to planning and operational complexities stemming from dispersed geography and tropical climate.
Zzapp uses AI to tailor optimal malaria-control strategies per village or neighborhood, then breaks down these strategies into clear and manageable tasks. These tasks are allocated to fieldworkers via a unique mobile application, which helps monitor and orchestrate the elimination campaign.
"The Zzapp team is deeply grateful to Xprize and IBM Watson for acknowledging the importance of the fight against malaria," says Arnon Houri-Yafin, CEO and founder of ZzappMalaria. "We will dedicate the prize money to one ambitious goal: demonstrating that rapid malaria elimination is possible in sub-Saharan Africa."
