How to Validate Your Health App Before Building It: No Be Every Idea Wey Good for Head Go Work for Market

Before you pour money into building that "revolutionary" health app, find out how to validate it properly in the African context. This blog post walks you through practical, witty, and research-backed ways to test your idea before coding even starts. Because not every app idea is ripe like mango — some are still stone-hard and sour.

HealthPreneur

Jun 11, 2025 - 19:49

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How to Validate Your Health App Before Building It: No Be Every Idea Wey Good for Head Go Work for Market

So, you don dreamt say your health app go change the world, right? Maybe you dey picture patients tapping on your slick interface while angelic background music plays, lives dey saved, and dollars dey rain. Oga, slow down. Before you empty your life savings into that app, ask yourself: who tell you say people need am?

Let’s get real. For Africa, especially in resource-constrained areas, health problems no be because we lack apps. It's because we lack access. That’s why you must validate your idea wella before your developer even opens VS Code.

In this post, we go show you step-by-step how to validate your health app — African style.

1. Start With the Problem, Not Your Ego

You fit think say your app go help diabetic patients track blood sugar. But wait, have you asked diabetic patients if that's their real issue?

Aunty Nkechi in Enugu dey worry more about how to buy insulin than track numbers. She fit even tell you, “All this your app app no go help me if the drugs still dey expensive.”

So instead of assuming, go and talk to real people. The fancy name for this is User Research. The humble African name is "Go ask questions before you carry pot enter river."

👉 Try tools like:

Lookback for user interviews
Typeform or Google Forms for surveys
Shujaaz Inc for youth insights, if na the youth you dey target

2. Is It Really a Health Problem or Just a Tech Fantasy?

Many of us dey build apps for problems wey no dey real. You say your app go help people book appointments online. Beautiful. But wetin if clinic no even get internet or na only two doctors dey attend 400 patients a day?

As dem talk for Naija, "na person wey wear shoe know where e dey pain am."

Try validate with:

Kenya eHealth Strategy (MOH)
Nigeria Health Watch for health system gaps
ResearchGate – Search for local studies on your target issue

3. Do a Quick and Dirty MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

No, MVP no mean you go build full app with animations, AI and blockchain. It means: test your idea with as little effort as possible.

In Africa, even a WhatsApp group fit be MVP. One young nurse in Kisumu tested her maternal care idea by sending daily SMS tips to pregnant women. After six months, she knew she had something people actually needed.

You can try:

A Google Site landing page
A Canva prototype
Marvel App or Figma mockups

4. Test the Waters With Pre-Orders or Waitlists

Let people sign up for your health solution before you even build it. If nobody signs up, my guy, maybe your app idea dey smell.

You can do this with:

Launchrock
Tally.so for forms
Mailchimp for capturing emails and doing basic follow-up campaigns

5. Run Small Experiments, Not Big Announcements

Instead of launching with press release and ribbon-cutting, start small. Target one hospital, clinic or even a group of boda-boda riders in Kampala. Watch how they use it. Refine. Repeat.

As one Ghanaian developer said: "I no go lie, our first version na disaster. But we learn plenty from am before we even code version two."

6. Learn from the Failures of Others (So You No Go Join Them)

Read real African med-tech stories before you go follow hype enter bush.

HealthLeap Africa covers health tech ventures
Outreach Health is a good example of scaling properly
Villgro Africa shares case studies on validated startups

Final Word: “Before You Climb Palm Tree, Check If Ground Soft”

Validating your health app no be waste of time — it na way to save you from heartbreak and poverty. You dey build for human beings, no be robots. Your app must solve real African problems in real African settings.

So before you shout “We’ve launched!” make sure your users no go shout back “Wetin be this?”