With more than 7 billion people spread across 7 continents and hundreds of thousands of medical facilities worldwide, it can be difficult to view the health of the world as a whole. Unfortunately, because of the interconnected nature of our species, connected global travel, and commerce, a real-time global health perspective is critical.
One of the leading projects attempting to create a whole-health aggregation of the world’s medical data is HealthMap.org. A program founded and developed by a team of researchers, epidemiologists, and software developers in Boston.
The project has begun utilizing informal sources, like Google News and Baidu News (the ‘Google’ of China). Through observation and aggregation of the news from these platforms and other information sources, HealthMap.org is able to create a real-time map of emerging health threats. The program keeps a lookout for a broad range of infections diseases, keeping libraries, health departments, governments, and international travelers informed.
Using automated filters and translation engines, this system monitors and organizes information from nine different languages, creating information that is useful to anyone, anywhere. In addition to their website, HealthMap as also released an app: ‘Outbreaks Near Me’ which keeps users informed as they travel.
While this project is a great step in the direction of world wide health mapping, there is a long way to go before the information is truly real time. Using data from news platforms and service offices has a significant lag. For the information to be reported through these sources, it must be problematic and reported. The shift will take place when this kind of mapping is able to integrate hospital intake data and maybe even first responder field reports.
The delicate balance here will be aggregating world wide data without prematurely declaring a crisis. Additionally, medical reports are always met with the challenges of patient privacy and the threat of premature diagnosis. Significant as these challenges, they are not insurmountable. What might you do to help HealthMap.org and other efforts in the attempt to create a navigable, comprehensive, real-time map of health around the world?
If this sounds like the challenge for you, Check out the IGNITE Challenge here.
