Stop The Spread
With the ongoing COVID-19 situation in Nigeria in mind, Stop the Spread is a web application the serves the purpose of linking people with volunteer medics, report symptoms, easily access information
Mahfouz Shehu
Inspiration
I was concerned by the fact that a lot of Nigerians studying in the UK and other severely affected countries, had been travelling back to Nigeria and thus significantly increasing the risk of spreading the disease. At the time there were also only 3 approved testing centres in the country and the authorities were struggling to track down the people that had come into contact with affected individuals. There was also an apparent nonchalance in how a lot of people were not taking the necessary steps in limiting the spread.
I felt the need to leverage my expertise in tech and find a way to help. I got in touch with a member of the national advisory board on the outbreak and a medical doctor to discuss the my ideas and try to come up with a helpful tech solution.
What it does
Stop the Spread has 3 main Objectives: 1 Link people with a network of qualified volunteer medics, via our medic chat feature, to offer medical advice, as relates to Coronavirus symptoms. 2 Provide an interface for people to report their symptoms and add details for people they've been in contact with. We will then forward this information on to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) 3 Present users with all the necessary information they need during the on going outbreak, including safety guidelines, emergency helplines as well as messages from influential figures in the country aimed at encouraging people to be more responsible about how they're responding to the outbreak. We will also translate all this information, to make it understandable to a much wider range of people.
How I built it
I built the prototype as an SPA using Vue.js and Firebase, with Cloud Firestore as the database
Challenges I ran into
Shifting from a mySQL background to a noSQL DB, I often tried to apply relational DB principles to the structure of my Firestore DB. I quickly realised that I needed to change my paradigm with regards to how a DB should be structured.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
the fact that I've stood up and tried to do something, instead of just waiting it out.
What I learned
working with noSQL DB's
What's next for Stop The Spread
Gain endorsement by national bodies (We have already tried to reach out) Bring Volunteer Doctors/Medics on board