Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Abierto al público

  • HOME
    • About this blog 
    • Editorial guidelines
  • CATEGORIES
    • Knowledge Management
    • Open Data
    • Open Learning
    • Open Source
    • Open Systems
  • Authors
  • English
    • Español

Hackathon yields new solutions to combat Zika

June 30, 2016 by Autor invitado Leave a Comment


In less than a year, the Zika virus has become an international public health emergency, spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean and into the US. In order to combat the spread of Zika and its effects (particularly its effect on pregnant women and related birth defects), the global health community is seeking innovative technologies and new approaches to address this outbreak.

In response, the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) and Global Disaster Response at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health mobilized 200 global health innovators and experts for a Zika Innovation Hack-a-thon in Boston. CAMTech’s ecosystem approach of bringing together different groups of innovators and experts from across the globe provides an open platform to spur innovation and empower a diverse community to take collective action.

The goal of this event was to create new product concepts, design novel personal protective equipment and develop new methods for local vector control that will help address the Zika epidemic and similar outbreaks. In 48 hours, drawing on the expertise, research and health data offered during the event, participants worked around the clock to pitch ideas, form cross-disciplinary teams.

Below we feature the four winning hack-a-thon projects among the 15 innovations that were presented during the event. These help illustrate how open knowledge and collaboration can help generate novel solutions to one of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges.

1 Larva finder

Is an add-on hardware device to a smart phone with a supporting mobile application that detects the presence of specific larvae species in standing water and has geo-tagging capability. This enables the transmission of the data to public health agencies, who can take the necessary action based on the trends in a neighborhood. This project was awarded the most innovative solution prize.

1.Larva Finder

2 LAD (Larvicide Automatic Dispenser)

Is an automatic dispenser that helps ensure adequate larvicide dosing through the use of a water buoy. This project was recognized as the most implementable solution.

1.LAD

3 Relix

It´s a mobile tool that allows users to report high-risk mosquito breeding areas.  This project was recognized as one of the innovations that promise the greatest public health impact.

3.Relix

4 Phairies

Another project that was recognized as an innovation that promises great public health impact is Phairies, which is based in gamification. It´s a game that teaches children about mosquito risks and vector control strategies.

4.Phairies

Game Illustrations: Julia Davids

A total of $4,000 was awarded to these winning teams. Each team will also receive acceleration support from the CAMTech Innovation Platform. In addition, CAMTech and Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, recently announced the award nominees of a follow-up opportunity, the Zika Innovation Awards – six prizes of $25,000 (CAD) each that will accelerate the development and commercialization of innovations addressing the Zika public health crisis. The award nominees were announced at the Global Health Security Agenda Private Sector Roundtable, a side event at the World Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland last month. To read more about these winners, click here.

As the threat of infectious disease outbreaks continues to rise, so too does the need for implementable, cost-effective solutions to manage these risks.The Zika Innovation Hack-a-thon allowed members from both the public and private sector to form a rapid response in an open innovation space that encouraged shared knowledge, data and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Together, they took meaningful action to improve health.

Which project did you like best? Include your comments below!

By Elizabeth Bailey, Director, CAMTech, Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health.

Leer blogpost en español


Filed Under: Open Systems Tagged With: Hackathons, Solidarity

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

About this blog

Open knowledge can be described as information that is usable, reusable, and shareable without restrictions due to its legal and technological attributes, enabling access for anyone, anywhere, and at any time worldwide.

In the blog 'Abierto al Público,' we explore a wide range of topics, resources, and initiatives related to open knowledge on a global scale, with a specific focus on its impact on economic and social development in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Additionally, we highlight the Inter-American Development Bank's efforts to consistently disseminate actionable open knowledge generated by the organization.

Search

Topics

Access to Information Actionable Resources Artificial Intelligence BIDAcademy Big Data Citizen Participation Climate Change Code for Development Coronavirus Creative Commons Crowdsourcing Data Analysis Data Journalism Data Privacy Data Visualization Development projects Digital Badges Digital Economy Digital Inclusion Entrepreneurship Events Gender and Diversity Geospatial Data Hackathons How to Instructional Design Key Concepts Knowledge Products Lessons Learned Methodologies MOOC Most Read Natural Language Processing Numbers for Development Open Access Open Government Open Innovation Open Knowledge Open Science Solidarity Sustainable Development Goals Taxonomy Teamwork Text Analytics The Publication Station

Similar Posts

  • Powering the Zika Response with Open Collaboration
  • Coronavirus: resources and open knowledge to collaborate in response to the pandemic
  • How Open Data can help fight crime in Latin America
  • The visible ally: open data about the network of entrepreneurs responding to COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • 8 projects from the USAID Hackathon that help understand crime in Latin America and the Caribbean

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT