ZzappMalaria

Jerusalem, Israel

About Us


Zzapp believes that malaria elimination is possible, and has committed to helping achieve it. Many countries have eliminated malaria by thoroughly spraying every water body, the malaria mosquito breeding site. In Africa, however, the challenge is more complicated, due to conditions spanning from climate to infrastructure. As a result, malaria is one of the deadliest diseases on the continent, and one of the greatest impediments to economic growth. Zzapp harnesses technology and artificial intelligence to personalize malaria-elimination interventions to every village and town, and to monitor progress to ensure success. Zzapp’s end to end solution, from planning through monitoring to validation, will be tested this year in a series of experiments in Zanzibar, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Ghana.

Prior to founding Zzapp, CEO Arnon Houri-Yafin had a key role in developing Parasight, an accurate machine vision-based malaria diagnostics device currently sold in more than 20 countries. 

TECH INFORMATION

Zzapp’s technology is geared towards tackling the main challenges faced by malaria-elimination campaigns by firstly, tailoring interventions to individual communities according to parameters such as topography, climate, population density, and water-body location; secondly, supporting the implementation of the chosen interventions, and thirdly, enabling real-time monitoring of campaign progress and offering dynamic adjustments. Our AI consists of two main layers: one uses neural networks to identify the locations of villages and towns and predict the abundance of stagnant water bodies around them, and another then tailors intervention strategies to individual communities in the area. Our map-based mobile app guides field workers during scanning and treatment activities, while streaming data to a dashboard operated by the campaign managers.