Slashdot Mirror
New Computer System Helps Slash Cholera Cases in Yemen By Predicting Where Outbreaks Will Occur (bbc.co.uk)
Cholera cases in Yemen have been slashed by a new system that predicts where outbreaks will occur. From a report: Last year, there were more than 50,000 new cases in just one week -- this year, the numbers plummeted to about 2,500. The system has enabled aid workers to focus efforts on prevention several weeks in advance of an outbreak -- by monitoring rainfall. It comes as the UN says it is concerned about a possible "third wave" of the epidemic. The deployment of the technology has been coordinated by the UK's Department for International Development. [...] The UK's overseas aid department has worked with the Met Office to develop a system that predicts where cholera will occur four weeks ahead of time.
The Met Office produces a rainfall forecast for Yemen. Using its supercomputers, it is to determine the specific amount of rain that will fall and pinpoint the areas it will hit within a 10km (six-mile) radius. These are important because downpours overwhelm the sewerage system and spread the infection. The forecasts are used in conjunction with a computer model developed by Prof Rita Colwell, at the University of Maryland, and Dr Antar Jutla, at West Virginia University. Together, this information enables scientists to predict the areas most likely to experience an outbreak, up to four weeks in advance.
The Met Office produces a rainfall forecast for Yemen. Using its supercomputers, it is to determine the specific amount of rain that will fall and pinpoint the areas it will hit within a 10km (six-mile) radius. These are important because downpours overwhelm the sewerage system and spread the infection. The forecasts are used in conjunction with a computer model developed by Prof Rita Colwell, at the University of Maryland, and Dr Antar Jutla, at West Virginia University. Together, this information enables scientists to predict the areas most likely to experience an outbreak, up to four weeks in advance.
Sooo, I am guessing the parameters of Yemeni sewage system are also in the model?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Stop bombing them.
A cheap way to prevent many problems in Yemen would be to stop bombing it.
ending the blockade. You know, the one by the Saudis being done with the weapons we sold them...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
The software did not lead to the drop in cholera cases.
Last year there was a cholera outbreak in Yemen. So far there hasn’t been one this year, but officials are concerned there could be - so they’re using this software tool to hopefully predict and head off new outbreaks before they happen.
#DeleteChrome
It seems that while this is a pretty good band-aid, a better solution would be to fix the sewer system for the new peaks.
...having your country bombed to shit by a hostile dictatorship with the backing of the US government...
Holy shit that's not even debatable, it's just a plain fact, and the comment gets modded Troll?
You lot are all wankers. You're too shitty to even log in so you can be identified.
its in poor taste when they are shitholes primarily because you are doing everything to bomb them into the stone age except physically pressing the launch button
fix the sewers? why, did something happen to them like getting blown apart with american-made bombs? even after the us so helpfully pointed out civilian infrastructure to the saudis so they know where not to bomb?
No the Yemeni hospitals in the defined zone are targeted by US satellites for the Saudi's to blow up with US and UK arms and munitions as a way to guarantee, really pissed of Yemeni will keep that war going pretty much for ever. If the is a war, the USA will be there, selling the tools of their apparently preferred trade, which takes precedence of infrastructure, education, health, even you lives. Think they will blame those cholera deaths on God, oh no, 100% Saudi and USA fault and nearly every family suffers in part, making that fury nationwide.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
It's hard to take any article about a 'computer system' seriously when it doesn't repeatedly stress how it was AI, quantum computing, or blockchains that actually made it work. /s
In that case, why are they worrying about cholera?
Instead, they should use AI to figure out where the bombs will go and actively avoid those areas.
Why do people automatically support anyone as long is it not the US
We don't.
The point is that US foreign policy has been based on what it was during the Cold War, and just like things never change in Washington in other areas, they didn't change in foreign policy either. For instance, take NATO. Once the Cold War was over, there was no need for NATO as a counterblast to Russia. Indeed, in the 1990s, Russia actually wanted to join NATO, but was disallowed. This was during Boris Yeltsin, not Putin, so no one can claim that Russia was being aggressive then. If anything, NATO was, by its unilateral wars against Serbia trying to dismember not just Yugoslavia, but Serbia as well.
On the issue of Yemen, what one has there is an alien vs predator situation: Shi'ite Houthis backed by Iran vs Sunnite Arabs backed by the Saudis and their neighbors. There is really nothing to choose b/w them, and as far as arms go, the Saudis have been shopping from the US ever since the end of the Obama administration. During the Obama administration, the Saudis felt threatened, particularly by the Iran deal, so once Trump came to power, they started arming themselves to the teeth. And the Houthis too have managed to give as good as they gotten - w/ missiles managing to hit Riyadh airport. I'm all for everybody - US, Russia, China, et al selling both sides whatever weapons they want so that they can finish off each other, and leave the rest of the world alone. And unlike Syria, there is no route for Yemenis to flee to Europe, and Somalia ain't that attractive to them either!