# 2405
Today we get this press release on Google.org's donation of nearly 15 Million dollars to help detect and prevent the next pandemic.
Google.org Battles Bugs & Viruses
Announces More Than $14 Million in Grants to Partners Working to Predict and Prevent the Next Pandemic
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), has announced grants of more than $14 million to support partners working in Southeast Asia and Africa to prevent the next pandemic. Google.org's Predict and Prevent initiative is supporting efforts to identify hot spots where diseases may emerge, detect new pathogens circulating in animal and human populations, and respond to outbreaks before they become global crises. Several new lethal infectious diseases crop up every year. Examples include the well-known killers, HIV/AIDS, bird flu, and SARS, as well as drug-resistant strains of ancient scourges malaria and tuberculosis. Three-quarters of new diseases are zoonoses, meaning they've jumped from animals to humans.
"Business as usual won't prevent the next AIDS or SARS. The teams we're funding today are on the frontiers of digital and genetic early detection technology. We hope that their work, with partners across environmental, animal, and human health boundaries, will help solve centuries-old problems and save millions of lives," said Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director, Google.org.
If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Larry Brilliant, I would urge you to watch the following video from 2006.
It runs 26 minutes, and it is both fascinating and inspiring.
-
-
Larry Brilliant wants to stop pandemics
- 26:02 Posted: Jul 2006
-
Dr. Brilliant, among his many accomplishments, is the winner 2006 TED award.
