Inspiration
The idea for Disease Detective came the day before the hackathon. We were deciding which track to follow and brainstorming ideas when we thought: why not make learning about diseases fun and interactive? Seeing friends and family struggle to remember basic health facts made us want to create a tool that makes understanding diseases, symptoms, and preventive measures easy and engaging.
What it does
Disease Detective is a prototype app that shows disease information as yes/no questions. Users try to guess the disease name. If the answer is correct, it says “correct,” and if it is wrong, it says “incorrect” and gives details about the disease and its preventive measures. This turns learning into a game-like experience that helps users remember information naturally while making health education fun.
How we built it
We were a small team of three, and one member was doing another hackathon at the same time, so only two of us were fully focused. At first, we built a very basic prototype with only three questions. We looked for APIs to get disease data but could not find any free ones, and we didn’t have money to pay for them.
So, we manually created our own database by typing disease names, descriptions, and preventive measures into an Excel sheet. This took a lot of time but taught us patience and attention to detail.
For the UI, we started with a simple logo and made a cartoonish doctor character from scratch using Adobe Photoshop. We did not use any AI tools because we wanted to learn and do everything ourselves.
Challenges we ran into
Building Disease Detective had many challenges. Our team was small, just three people, and one was busy with another hackathon, leaving only two of us to work. Getting disease data was hard because free APIs were not available, so we had to manually fill our Excel database with disease names, descriptions, and preventive measures. This was slow but necessary for accuracy.
Also, the small number of entries made it hard for users to guess some diseases correctly. Designing the UI from scratch, including the cartoon doctor, needed creativity and technical skill. Communicating was another challenge because social media and messaging apps are restricted in Nepal, so we had to use VPNs and DNS changes. Even with all these difficulties, we kept solving problems and stayed persistent, which improved our teamwork and resilience.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we turned an idea into a working prototype in a short time. We manually made a complete disease database, created a unique and engaging UI, and built the app without AI tools, learning every step ourselves. Disease Detective changes complicated health information into a fun, game-like learning experience. Even with a small team and limited resources, we made a product that can help communities, schools, and families learn about diseases in an easy, hands-on way.
What we learned
This project taught us important lessons about teamwork, creativity, and being flexible. We learned the value of starting early and improving the prototype step by step, especially when resources are limited. Making the database and UI by hand improved our technical skills and patience. Overcoming communication challenges in Nepal made us better at problem-solving and working together. Most importantly, we learned that small, dedicated teams can create solutions that have real educational and social impact.
What's next for Disease Detective
Next, we want to add more diseases to the database. We will add not only yes/no questions but also different kinds of fun activities, so users can guess correctly and enjoy learning. We want to improve the UI/UX and add gamification features like scoring, hints, and levels to make it more interactive. In the future, we may use AI to generate questions automatically and give smarter feedback. Our goal is to make Disease Detective a tool that can grow, helping schools, families, and communities learn about health in a fun and engaging way.
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