TiE Delhi-NCR and Prayatna have partnered to host the ‘Malaria Hackfest – Predict, Plan & Prevent’, powered by Mortein, aiming to address gaps in surveillance, location spotting, and forecasting malaria outbreaks. The initiative invites top tech schools in India, including IITs, NITs, and IIITs, to provide targeted solutions to fight Malaria, with the winner receiving up to INR 5 lakhs in prizes.
Ravi Bhatnagar, Director, External Affairs and Partnerships, SOA, Reckitt, emphasized the importance of using technology-enabled innovations to effectively address malaria outbreaks in India, given the constantly changing nature of malaria trends such as antibiotic resistance, climate change, and vector characteristics.
The major areas of concern for malaria that require improvement through IT-enabled innovation in India include real-time surveillance systems focused on patterns of mosquito infestations, forecasting increased mosquito infestations and malaria outbreaks, gradient heat mapping of hotspot areas of mosquito breeding sites, and a scalable model spanning from grass root to national level. The initiative seeks to develop scalable solutions to bridge the gaps in curtailing malaria and improve the overall health of the nation.
