Dr. Carissa F Etienne began her 2nd term as Director of PAHO and WHO Americas Regional Director on Friday

​Dr Carissa F Etienne began her 2nd term as Director of PAHO, and WHO Regional Director for the Americas on Friday February 2nd, 2018. That regional public health institution is now 115 years old.
 
Etienne said, “In this Region, most of our countries have reached the stage where many of the easy public health gains have been achieved, which means that each incremental improvement in the health of our peoples, requires a redoubling of our efforts, in order to reach those most vulnerable and marginalized individuals that still lack health care”. She added, “Targeted interventions that make a tangible difference in the lives of underserved populations, will be the key to our success”.
 
Over the next five years, Etienne will work with PAHO member countries to advance toward “health for all.” A high-level commission formed by PAHO will analyze progress toward this goal since the 1978 Alma-Ata declaration on primary health care and will examine the persisting gaps and challenges to further progress in the Region toward universal coverage and universal access to health.
 
Etienne begins her second term on a path already set by the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the WHO General Program of Work, the PAHO Strategic Plan, and the Sustainable Agenda for the Americas, which provide an intersectoral framework for social and economic development in all countries. Attending Etienne’s inauguration today were Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Irwin LaRocque, and U S Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Eric Hargan.
 
Etienne first five-year term began in February 2013. She was re-elected by PAHO Member States during the Pan American Sanitary Conference last September 2017. She was also named Regional Director for the Americas for WHO by the WHO Executive Board in Geneva in late January 2018. Etienne joined PAHO in 2003 as Assistant Director in charge of technical areas at PAHO headquarters in Washington, D.C. From 2008 to 2012, she was Assistant Director for Health Systems and Services at WHO in Geneva, where she focused special attention on renewing the primary health care approach and strengthening health systems based on primary care.
 
Before joining PAHO/WHO, Etienne held positions in her own country, Dominica, including coordinator of the National AIDS Program, coordinator for national disasters in the Ministry of Health, president of the National Committee on HIV/AIDS, and director of Primary Health Care Services. She began her career as a medical officer in the Princess Margaret Hospital in Dominica, where she rose to the post of Medical Director.
 
Etienne received her degree in medicine and surgery from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and a master’s degree in community health in developing countries from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.