Dr. Peter Kaddu, a public health professional, has expressed passion for creating and implementing health programs to manage public health systems locally and globally.
During the Groove Cafe interview with Crystal Newman, Dr. Kaddu, who has spent 20 years as a public and global health professional, said his journey into the realm began as a medical intern working in the pediatrics department.
“I just fell in love with treating children mostly because they don’t pretend. If they are well, they will play. So, that continuous sight of a child who was badly off smiling and playing the following morning is just addictive, “he narrated.
As part of the program, he was obliged to carry out community outreach programs. In his interaction with the local community, he observed health gaps that required much more attention.
“So I developed an interest in public health, designing prevention programs, ways of improving community health in addition to treating individuals at the hospital,” he narrated.
During the outreaches, he noticed that communities had children suffering from preventable diseases. “ I began to think that maybe I could do something that could help prevent the conditions,” he said
In the same period, he got into HIV care, where Antiretroviral treatment had just emerged. He realized the need for testing programs, as well as aftercare services upon testing positive.
Now working with Last Mile Health, Dr. Kaddu is still engrossed in community outreach programs, strengthening teams for promoting public health.
“Our work is community health based as well as helping countries build strong health systems. We are currently working in Liberia, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. We also work with global organizations like the World Health Organization and the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” he said.
He continued, “Our primary focus when it comes to delivering quality care in communities is creating knowledgeable teams, designing and implementing health systems, equipping health care workers at community and primary levels, and designing delivery programs.”
According to Dr. Kaddu, behavioral change communication is implemented in phases by working with education experts, digital health teams, clinical excellence, and advocacy team to ensure that the messages are framed and disseminated well for the public to understand.
In execution of his duties as the Deputy Managing Director at Last Mile Health, a global health organization based in Boston, USA, He is a team leader working towards strengthening health systems, public health programming, public health program monitoring, and evaluation, program quality assurance and health worker training.
He is also one of the pioneers of the mother-to-child prevention of HIV/AIDS programs that enable mothers living with HIV to give birth to negative children.
He has worked with multi-disciplinary and cross-country teams, designing, implementing, and managing public health, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCH), and community-based programs in various countries.
The Groove Cafe with Crystal Newman airs every Weekday from 4-5 pm on RX Radio.
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