MEDIA RELEASE

 

CSSL Launches International epihack Project to Fight Dengue Fever

Computer Society of Sri Lanka to Facilitate Collaborative Hack Involving ICT and Health Experts

Thursday 19 October – The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) has announced an international hacking project to develop a solution for dengue fever, which is currently being experienced at ‘unprecedented’ levels across Sri Lanka.

According to the Red Cross, over 100,000 cases of dengue fever have been reported this year resulting in 295 deaths, with the capital of Colombo being the worst hit region, accounting for 44 per cent of all cases.

CSSL President Yasas Abeywickrama said, “Dengue has always been amongst the deadliest diseases we face in Sri Lanka, and epihack Sri Lanka aims to stop it.”

Abeywickrama described epihack as, “a 5-day hackathon that will bring together ICT professionals, public health practitioners and government officials to create an open source digital solution aimed at improving health communication and surveillance of dengue fever to try and contain the disease.”

Jointly organised by organized by Nanyang Technological University, the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) and the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL), epihack Sri Lanka will take place from 6-10 November 2017 in Colombo.

epihacks differ from other hackathons by encouraging collaboration rather than competition, with ICT professionals working closely with public sector and health experts to build a sustainable solution.

An internationally recognized event, epihacks have previously been held in Tanzania, Myanmar, Albania, Brazil, Thailand, Laos and elsewhere. epihack Rio resulted in the Guardians of Health app, which is used to detect public health emergencies and outbreaks, utilizing crowd-sourced reports to monitor symptoms and health conditions in different areas. Three years on, epitrack has expanded into a young startup and launched a new app called Flu Near You! to track and fight the flu.

Previously, epihack Tanzania in 2014 created Afyadata. Built by the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS), it collects, submits, receives and/or tracks feedback of health data. A completely open source tool, it maintains a repository health data to help health professionals make decisions.

epihack Sri Lanka will be held from 6 –10 November 2017 at Cinnamon Lakeside in Colombo. To participate in this global hackathon and take the fight to dengue, please complete this form – https://goo.gl/2D8y8E  

For more information about epihack, please visit www.epihack.org

CSSL is the ICT professional association representing Sri Lankan technology professionals within IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing.

 

About IFIP

IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing, is the global professional federation of societies and associations for people working in Information and Communications Technologies and Sciences. Established under the auspices of UNESCO in 1960 and recognised by the United Nations, IFIP represents ICT professional associations from more than 50 countries and regions with a total membership of over half a million. It also brings together more than 3,500 scientists from industry and academia, organising them into over 100 Working Groups and 13 Technical Committees to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing. Based in Austria, IFIP organises and supports over 100 conferences each year, fostering the distribution of research and knowledge to academics and industry practitioners alike.

Website: http://ifip.org

Latest news: http://ifipnews.org

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ifipnews

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ifip—international-federation-for-information-processing

 

Media contacts

Caroline@quantumvalues.com

Shuba@quantumvalues.com