Fortune May 20, 2019
Facebook wants to help fight infectious diseases like measles by introducing maps that health organizations can use to prevent and respond to outbreaks.
The disease prevention maps, which debuted Monday, provide detailed information such as population density, the movement of people in real time, and network connectivity across regions. The point is to give researchers and health groups information to get ahead of epidemics and more effectively reach vulnerable communities.
Facebook released similar maps two years ago to help nongovernmental organizations respond to natural disasters. It took the same idea and applied to public health.
“We realized some of the movement maps we created for natural disasters could also be used for the spread of malaria or the flu,” said...