The health care systems have been overwhelmed, therefore, it’s high time for developing countries like Uganda to increase funding in the health sector up to 15% with reference to the Abuja Declaration.

Patrick Segawa
Founder & Team Lead at Public Health Ambassadors Uganda

Meet Patrick Segawa, our Public Health Insight Community Star! As the team lead, Patrick provides overall leadership for PHAU’s Uganda Portfolio which currently includes overall oversight of program implementation, personnel management, and financial monitoring for several integrated youth-focused Menstrual, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and HIV/AIDS funded programs and projects.

In this post, Patrick shares his passion for public health by providing responses to the following questions:

What does public health mean to you?

Putting the community, we serve at the center, empowering them to make informed decisions in relation to their health and wellbeing not forgetting their environment.

This can go a long way in ensuring meaningful involvement at all levels which can guarantee the sustainability of positive health outcomes.

What work do you do in public health?

As the team lead, I do provide overall leadership for PHAU’s Uganda Portfolio which currently includes overall oversight of program implementation, personnel management, and financial monitoring for several integrated youth-focused Menstrual Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS funded programs and projects.

I also mentor other youth activists in the use of entertainment education (edutainment) such as drama, spoken word poetry, narrative dance, street/community theatre and flash mobs as a health promotion approach to educating young people about HIV/AIDS, STIs, GBV, unplanned teenage pregnancy and their related advocacy in Uganda.

What is your public health message?

COVID19 has really shown the gaps that exist in our healthcare systems ranging from poor planning, limited human resources for health, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of prioritization.

The health care systems have been overwhelmed, therefore, it’s high time for developing countries like Uganda to increase funding in the health sector up to 15% with reference to the Abuja Declaration.

In addition, this calls for investment in research and innovations, technology and building capacity of human resources for health to be able to effectively handle the new current changes and trends in disease patterns, epidemics and pandemics.

For more information on Public Health Ambassadors Uganda, please check out their social media accounts and website: Instagram (@phauganda), Twitter (@phauganda), and Website (https://phauganda.org/).