Giving Compass' Take:

• BBC News reports on a breakthrough in data gathering in Yemen, where cholera cases have been slashed thanks to a new system that predicts where outbreaks will occur, correlating to high rainfall totals.

• What can this example teach us about the importance of reliable measurements in international aid and healthcare work — and how it can be used for wider impact?

• One major issue in this sector: There is still a girl-shaped hole in global health data.

Cholera cases in Yemen have been slashed by a new system that predicts where outbreaks will occur.

Last year, there were more than 50,000 new cases in just one week — this year, the numbers plummeted to about 2,500.

The system has enabled aid workers to focus efforts on prevention several weeks in advance of an outbreak — by monitoring rainfall.

It comes as the UN says it is concerned about a possible "third wave" of the epidemic.

The deployment of the technology has been coordinated by the UK's Department for International Development.

Prof Charlotte Watts, the department's chief scientific adviser, said that the system had helped aid workers bring a rampant epidemic under control.

"We have thousands of people around the world that died from cholera each year," he said.

"And I think this approach could really help put a dent into that figure.

"What this technology enables us to do is really home in to where we're going to get new outbreaks, and respond really effectively."

Last year, there were a million cases of the waterborne disease in Yemen. More than 2,000 people died and many of them were children.

Read the full article about controlling a cholera epidemic through computers by Pallab Ghosh at BBC.