VacciTracker
Stay on top of your child's vaccination schedule
Problem Background
Vaccinations are a crucial component of maintaining good health and preventing the spread of serious diseases. In Africa, ensuring that children receive their vaccinations on time can be a challenge due to various factors such as lack of access to healthcare, limited information and awareness, and busy schedules.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine coverage rates in some African countries are still low, putting children at risk of serious health complications. In many cases, parents are unable to keep track of their children's vaccination schedules, leading to missed appointments and a decreased level of protection against serious illnesses.
The situation is further compounded by the limited access to reliable information and resources. Many parents struggle to find accurate information on the recommended vaccination schedules, leaving them feeling unsure and unsure of what to do. This can lead to confusion and a lack of confidence in the vaccination process, making it even more difficult to ensure children receive their vaccinations on time.
Vaccitracker aims to address these challenges by providing a simple and convenient solution for parents to keep track of their children's vaccinations. With Vaccitracker, parents can create a personalized schedule, receive reminders and notifications, and track appointments, all in one convenient place. By making it easy to stay on top of vaccinations, Vaccitracker empowers African parents to protect their children's health and ensure they receive the care they need to lead healthy, happy lives.
User Pain Points
In today’s fast paced world, it is difficult for people to keep track of the things that they need to remember and do especially with all the socio-economic uncertainties. Remembering the dates and details of required vaccinations is not easy. Most hospitals do not provide an effective way for parents to remember their child’s vaccination appointments. The parents are given a vaccination card that could get damaged or easily replaced.
Feedback
From the research that we did, more than 60% of parents confirmed having forgotten at least one vaccination appointment.
They have also expressed a desire for a system that provides periodic reminders for them
While testing the prototype, some parents explained that asides from remembering the appointment, they often get to the hospital to be told that they have run out of stock of the vaccine and would love it if there was a way to check this before going to the hospital.
Solution Explanation
Our product, Vaccitracker, is a comprehensive solution for parents to track the vaccination schedules of their children. The user-friendly interface allows parents to easily manage their children's health and stay on top of important vaccination dates.
Our Key Features
The Children Screen: displays a list of all the children associated with the parent's account, along with their individual vaccination schedules. This allows for a quick overview of each child's vaccination status, making it simple to track progress and stay on top of any missed or upcoming vaccinations.
The Reminder Section: allows parents to set reminders for all of their children's vaccinations, ensuring they never miss an important appointment. These reminders
can be customized to send notifications at specific dates making it easy to stay on top of the ever-changing vaccination schedules.
The Vaccination Wiki Page: provides a wealth of information about vaccinations, including articles and resources on the importance of vaccines
Lofi & Hifi Mockups
The app is designed to be simple, intuitive, and user-friendly, allowing parents to manage their children's health and vaccination schedules with ease.
Whether you're a new parent or an experienced one, Vaccitracker makes it easy to keep your children's vaccination schedules on track. With just a few taps on your device, you can have peace of mind knowing that your children are getting the protection they need.
Implementation Details
Technical implementation
- The application is hosted on vercel and it’s connected to an API hosted on Heroku.
The tech stack
- The application was built using React Js, Redux toolkit and Bootstrap on the frontend and Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, and Rspec and Rubocop on the backend.
High level journey of a request
- The Backend is responsible for handling all HTTPS requests from the frontend. The request is authenticated using a JSON Web token (JWT), the backend then queries the database for the requested data and sends it back to the frontend as a JSON object.
- The front end accepts the data requested and updates the application state using the data returned by the request. This is displayed for the user to see and interact with.
Technical challenges
What was the hardest part of development?
- The hardest part of development is setting up and agreeing on workflow and version control. There was no single source state for the API. Also normalising the database to handle concurrent requests was a bit challenging
Does your app have any scaling issues?
- The backend of the application is currently deployed on heroku on a basic plan and runs on a less standard dyno. There might be downtime in request handling occasionally. Also, the database maintenance is not flexible on a basic plan. It is strictly dependent on the service time.
What are some key takeaways?
- As developers, we had to constantly communicate to make sure the user flow is in line with the API and database design. We also had to take feedback and criticism and use them to improve the application. This helped us to learn the importance of planning communication and teamwork.
Future Steps
We haven’t decided if we would be continuing with this project, but we plan to develop on and use the skills and experience we got to get jobs and add value to various product teams we might find ourselves in.
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Damola Olusakin
- How to lead a product team of developers and designers
- How to create a product backlog and prioritise features
- Exploring different dimensions of the problem and use cases to ensure there are no gaps in the solution
Designer Learnings:
Innocent Solomon
- I learned how to Collaborate with a project manager and developers to deliver a project
- Also iterating, prioriotizing and delivering a Minimum viable project in a timely manner
- I have also developed the ability to effectively communicate with my team mates and provide weekly updates and feedbacks to ensure a smooth work process
Designer Learnings:
Jo Sturdivant
- Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
- Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.
Developer Learnings:
Abdulrahman Olagunju
Developer Learnings:
Vanady Beard
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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.
Developer Learnings:
Stephen Asiedu
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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.
Developer Learnings:
Lekan Jimoh
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Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
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- Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
- Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
- Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.
Developer Learnings:
Jeremiah Williams
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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.