Stop Malaria Project Interview: Badru Gidudu Walimbwe

As part of BAMM (Blog About Malaria Month) I will be featuring brief interviews with my coworkers at Stop Malaria Project (SMP) and Malaria Consortium (MC) in the Soroti office.

Note: SMP is implemented by MC, which provides technical assistance to the project.

Badru Gidudu Walimbwe is the Technical Team Leader for the Teso Region at SMP.

  

A: Where are you from?

B: My original district is Sironmko, near Mbale, but my family lives in Kampala. 

 

A: What did you study?

B: I received a diploma in medical entomology and parasitology at Mulogo paramedical School. Then, I got another diploma in health services management from Uganda Christian University. Then, I got my bachelor’s degree in social work and social administration.  I have a master’s degree in social sector planning and management from Makere University.

A: Where have you worked before SMP/MC?

B: Before SMP, I was with AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) as a project assistant. The project was integrated for Malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB in two central districts. I worked in Rukingiri as a vector control officer at their district health office.  Throughout those jobs, I worked at the community level in home based management of fevers, net distributions, and IRS (indoor residual spraying). Rukingiri is a highland district where malaria was really low, but now those areas are prone to epidemics, maybe due to climate change. That’s why we had to do IRS there, which helps reduce epidemics.   

A: Why did you want to work for SMP/MC?

B: All my initial experience was in malaria since school, and then comes SMP, in so many districts. I thought wow…this is the best opportunity for me to make a contribution to the malaria world. That time in the beginning we were targeting 45 districts, but then we reduced to 34.  The fact that it was going to work through the national health system and local government level, I understood all the dynamics and interventions, I was excited to be able to make an impact.  It was a good opportunity for my career to grow and make a contribution to the community.       

A: What drew you to work in public health?

B: When I was little, I knew I wanted to be a health worker. Most of the interventions in health need to be more focused on prevention. It’s more rewarding to me to put more effort in prevention, than to seeing someone ailing in the hospital. Working with the small rural communities is easier and more rewarding than urban communities.  The response is better.  You have more success in rural areas in public health interventions than in urban settings.       

A: What do you like most about your job?

B: The most interesting thing is that you are acting like a broker.  You have this health worker, a community, and someone who has a little money to offer help.  So it’s exciting linking them; someone who needs support and someone who can provide it.  When people give testimonials about how nets have reduced the number of malaria cases in the wards, it’s rewarding.  It’s exciting to make a contribution and the result is positive.  It’s exciting to think you are reaching the whole health system and all those health centers.    

A: What do you think is the biggest challenge in malaria eradication?

B: The main challenge is that many people are intervening, but things seem scattered. 

A: What do you think could be improved in the malaria eradication campaign?

B:  We need to repackage the interventions so it’s not one intervention at a time.  We should do everything at the same time; IRS, nets, treatments, and community sensitization.  Very critical monitoring indicators should be followed closely to see if you’re really making progress. We need to work as team, with the districts, SMP, and have everyone on board.  We could start on a small scale then make it large.  The outputs need to be monitored.  We need to see what needs to be done at facility level, and community level. If we do immediate case management, you are reducing the number of parasites in the community. We need to promote early early early treatment! In principle, you can have mosquitoes. But if you don’t have the parasites, then they’re not a problem.   

A: After SMP ends, what would you like to do?

B:  Having gained all this experience, for me this is another opportunity to go to the next level to repackage this experience and make a significant contribution to malaria control and prevention, whether it’s a malaria organization or consultancy.  I think working in a big malaria organization would be the best.

A:  Can you share a memorable experience from working at SMP?

B:   In Serere (pilot net distribution), we have this huge thing that everyone is looking at; PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative), and the district are expecting a lot with logistics and administration. We need results, quality results, big teams in the country, district, even outside the country are seeing what your output will be.  You’re not trained in logistics, but you have to implement to make sure the activity is successful.  But you’re not in control of everything.  Someone else has to order the nets, deliver them, and they don’t’ come at the time you want.  It was a really interesting challenge.  There was no 8 to 5, we were having meetings through the night.  You have to balance being tough and soft otherwise, things won’t shift. The Distribution was a memorable experience. I was excited when I did the report.  Joslyn (Meier, the deputy director of Malaria Consortium) said it was the best report she’d read in Uganda.  You have to work under pressure to get that final thing.     

Stop Malaria Project Uganda is one of many organizations that host a Peace Corps Volunteer in partnership with the Stomping Out Malaria Initiative in Africa. The initiative mobilizes and connects over 3,000 Peace Corps Volunteers in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to work together to eradicate malaria from the continent. To learn more, please visit: http://stompoutmalaria.org/.