Crowdsourcing app monitors public health in Rio

Guardioes de Saude — Guardians of Health — is an app that monitors the spread of any viruses in Rio, so athletes and attendees of the Olympics can stay informed.

Though there has been much speculation about how the Zika virus will affect athletes and attendees of the Rio Olympics, the country is entering into the colder months and mosquito season is ending. But as a precaution, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has developed a new app that will crowdsource health symptoms and map out any spread of the Zika virus and other communicable diseases.

To take part, users in the Rio region register with their basic information and allow the app to access their location. The Guardioes de Saude app encourages users to upload daily information about their symptoms, reporting any information to do with respiratory issues, diarrhea, or rashes. Using this data, the Ministry creates a Health Map, which lets users follow health conditions near them in real-time. Health tips, disease prevention and information on vaccines will also be available on the app.

Guardioes de Saude is now available in seven languages for iOS and Android users. We already saw a national emergency app for Euro 2016. What other major events can use a crowdsourced app like this?