A Little History
2 years ago around 10th, June, 2018 I went to a "Health+Tech" hackathon at the iHub, Nairobi. Basically, the idea around the event was to create innovative apps that could be used to solve problems within the Health sector. Not bad. One of the areas of focus was Nutrition.
That was my first hackathon ever and I really didn't know how such events work. Prior to the event we had been given the areas of focus and given a few days to come up with something. Oh well, I picked "Nutrition" since I felt it was something that nobody has ever thought of tackling here in Kenya (and globally).
D-day came and off I was to the venue.
Over the next 48 hours it was just coding up a rapid protoype of the app. On the final day everyone had to present their idea to the attendants, answer questions and so on. Then finally their app is judged and the finalists chosen.
My idea won fourth place. I hadn't expected it.
After the event, the idea languished into oblivion since no one really wanted to back it. I tried reaching out to some potentials who I had hoped would back it so I could build into its full version but to no avail. Thus I set it aside and went on with my life.
May, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 "lockdowns", I remembered about it. I dusted the prototype's source code and began to seriously work on fleshing it out. After 2 weeks of 15 hours per day of work I am glad to present you the first version of the application.
What is Delisasa?
First the Premise: do you think Nutrition plays a big role in one's Health? If you say "Yes" you are correct. Now, do you think the worlds of "Nutrition", "Health" and "Medicine" overlap? Yes they do. This is where I am coming from.
The original idea of Delisasa when I built it during the hackathon was to create a social network where Health, Nutrition and Medical experts can meet the public and discuss matters concerning health and nutrition. It is as simple as that. Many people here in Kenya (and globally) have limited access not just to doctors but to health and nutrition experts. Delisasa gives them that platform where they can meet with these professionals at no cost and chat with them.
It is also a place where you can also meet with other people going through the same issues, give each other encouragement and also offer each other nutrition and health tips.
The heart of the platform is the Tribe. Any user on the platform can create a tribe but it should be focused on Health and Nutrition. This is the point where users can share nutrition tips, health stories to encourage or help each other.
One special feature of Delisasa is the Verified Expert. A Verified Expert can do a little more than the average Delisasa user. They can create and edit recipes on the platform (yes, we want the best recipes from the best minds since we are dealing with the delicate matters of Health and Nutrition). Their stories are highlighted within the group and public streams while they also get a page where they can showcase their professional history.
Another feature is the Mealplanner: something which is sorely lacking online. With this you can create an unlimited number of mealplans with each plan holding the items on a per-weekday basis.