Plateau State announces ‘Developers Challenge’ for solutions on COVID-19

The Plateau State government has announced a ‘Developers Challenge’ programme to support software developers to find solutions to a variety of problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recorded over 785,897 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, worldwide and 37,826 deaths. In Nigeria, there are over 131 cases as at the time of this report and the country expects the figure to spike as is the rest of the continent with more than 10, 000 cases already recorded.

The winners of the challenge, according to Plateau state, will go home with a total sum of N350, 000 cash prizes in different categories. The first position goes home with N200, 000 cash, while the second and the third positions go home with N100, 000 and N50, 000 cash prizes respectively.

To join the challenge, follow the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaniWMRywbwwQeqJXu_M2H-uD_TZReDFICJu2mIO6GxUJNBg/viewform?usp=pp_url

While the medical community is rushing to search for solutions to the spread of the disease with a big push for vaccine and medicine research, big ICT companies and the tech communities are also upping their game to save humanity from the dreaded virus.

“Tech has a history of helping the medical industry track and treat viruses. Among more recent examples is flu tracking. In 2018 the US experienced a particularly severe flu season. During this time aggregated user data collected through Kinsa’s smart connected thermometers indicated illness spikes across the country.,” noted one report.

Plateau State has no record of COVID-19 case but surrounding states of Kaduna, Bauchi, Benue and even the FCT (Abuja) have laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus.

The Plateau State government believes that policy, technology, the medical industry and communities must be fully mobilised to halt the spread of the disease, said Director General of Plateau State Information and Communication Development Agency (PICTDA), Mr. Daser David in Jos, the state capital.

He added: “Governor Simon Lalong is a firm believer in the power of technology and is totally committed to getting all stakeholders including the medical and technology communities to find solutions that will not only raise awareness on COVID-19, but offer new approaches and quick actions to addressing crisis situations, like the current one related to the coronavirus.”

The ‘Plateau COVID-19 Developers Challenge’ is open for participation to all developers in the provision of solutions for saving lives, communities, and businesses. The COVID Challenge is seeking to get Nigeria’s tech community offer solutions round defeating COVID-19 on three focus areas that capture the global challenge of: Saving lives; Saving communities; and Saving businesses.

Like the rest of world, Plateau State, and indeed, all of Nigeria, is not silent on finding a solution, David stressed.

As one report noted, “n terms of COVID-19, we are seeing another rise in digital epidemiology tools, chatbot helpers, EHR guidance tools and rapid-response test kits.