In this episode we are joined by Arnon Houri Yafin, an Israeli entrepreneur who is the founder of a company called Zzapp Malaria, which recently won the AI XPRIZE sponsored by IBM Watson.
Their work in using AI to eliminate malaria in Africa is both interesting and inspirational.
Episode Summary
- Moving from malaria control to malaria elimination
- How Zzapp Malaria started and how investors were attracted
- The use of drones, satellite imagery, topography, rain/humidity data and a new mobile app
- The development of small neural networks to identify the potential for small water bodies
- How IBM Watson assisted with funding but also the machine learning models
- The use of biology agents rather than chemicals to treat stagnant water bodies
- The NGO project in Ghana - reduced mosquitos by 60% in 100 days
- Latest and biggest operation to date in São Tomé and Príncipe
- The direct impact on the GDP of a country’s economy as a result of eliminating malaria
- How malaria and poverty are interconnected
- Winning the $3 million XPrize and how the money will be used
- How you can help by supporting Malaria No More and Only Nets
