Google Announces Grants To Fight Global Health Threats

Google.org, the philanthropic division of Google, on Thursday announced $30 million in grants and investments to programs and campaigns related to global health and four other focus areas, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/18).

As part of the effort, Google.org will award a $5 million grant to InSTEDD -- a not-for-profit group established by the division that will use technology to improve the ability to share information among organizations and programs that seek to predict and prevent disease outbreaks and other global threats. In the future, Google.org might seek to develop simple diagnostic tests that physicians in developing nations could use to diagnose infectious diseases (Delaney, Wall Street Journal, 1/18).

Google.org also will award a $2.5 million grant to the Global Health and Security Initiative, a program established by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to prevent, detect and respond to biological threats (Wall Street Journal chart, 1/18).