Mosquito-borne diseases are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is why NASA has been working to help track outbreaks.

Now, the space agency is expanding such efforts by collaborating with foreign governments and the WHO, officials with NASA’s Earth Sciences Division wrote in a June 27 blog post detailing the role NASA plays in helping to combat the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

NASA is supporting the development of an early warning system in Myanmar that uses satellite data, for instance. Agency satellite observations are also being integrated into a regional-based statistical model to combat mosquito-borne disease in Peru.

The post outlines initiatives in several parts of the world funded by the Health and Air Quality Applications area of NASA Earth’s Applied Science Program.

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