News

The campaign continues by the current administration to seek support for the candidacy of Dr. Carissa Etienne to hold the position of Director at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Health Minister Hon. Julius Timothy and Chief Medical Officer David Johnson left the island on Friday to attend The World Health Assembly Meeting in Geneva where they will continue to seek support for the Dominican health professional.

Dr. Carissa Etienne has had a career in medicine and public health for over thirty-five years. A national of Dominica, Dr. Etienne began her career as a medical officer at the Princess Margaret Hospital, where she eventually became the Chief Medical Officer. Throughout her career, she has gained extensive knowledge and experience in various aspects of health management, health systems and health-care delivery, including management of essential drugs, human resource management for primary health care and the integration of health programmes and systems.

Dr. Etienne has held high-level posts such as the Coordinator of Dominica's National AIDS Programme, Disaster Coordinator for the Ministry of Health of Dominica, Chairperson for the National Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS and the Director of Primary Health Care for Dominica.  She was the Assistant Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, which is the Secretariat of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and of the American Regional Office of WHO and in 2008 Dr. Etienne assumed her role as Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Services at the World Health Organization. (WHO)

Hon. Julius Timothy, Minister for Health stated that he intends to have a special function for Dr. Etienne at The World Health Assembly Meeting in Geneva.

He says, “We will invite all the Health Ministers from all the PAHO member states and we will present Dr. Etienne to them.”

“Dr. Etienne has served Dominica and the region well, she has been Chief Medical Officer here and has [also] been head of the Primary Health Care Unit in Dominica and she was the one who primarily piloted the Primary health care of Dominica which made us number one in the region and she is eminently qualified for the position.”

The Roosevelt Skerrit Administration has rallied support for Dr. Etienne on a regional level. CARICOM member states as well as several Latin American countries have fully endorsed Dr. Etienne’s candidacy and have given their commitment to support her endeavors.

Minister Timothy says, “The CARICOM Heads met and all decided to endorse Dr. Etienne however, although the heads have endorsed, the Ministers for Health [have to] vote.  We do not have records [of any] health ministers in the region going against their heads decision but at the same time they must know who and what they’re voting for and we’re going to use that opportunity to present Dr. Etienne to them.  We also have the commitments from most of the ALBA members so we expect that Dr. Etienne will be elected come September to the post but notwithstanding that we still have to do the work.  This is not about politics, as I have said Dr. Etienne is extremely qualified.”

The next PAHO meeting will be held in September.