Profile Carissa Etienne: taking the reins at PAHO

The Lancet, Volume 381, Issue 9867, Page 619, 23 February 2013

“…….The stars of global health came out in force at the end of January for the inauguration of the new Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). WHO’s Director-General Margaret Chan paid tribute to an “experienced leader”, while the US Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius lauded an inspirational woman with “a wealth of expertise in tackling many of the most difficult health challenges of our time”.

The woman they were talking about is Carissa Etienne, a native of the small Caribbean island of Dominica and living proof that, in the words of the Organization of American States Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, “the size of your country does not always determine the strength of your voice, or your capacity to lead….”

“……Pushing hard for universal health coverage will be crucial to reaching these vulnerable populations, and Etienne is a life-long advocate. When hurricane David devastated Dominica in 1979, a year after the Alma-Ata declaration, Etienne left her postgraduate studies in internal medicine to help with the rebuilding process. She stayed for 26 years, and was one of the primary architects of rebuilding the island's health system around the principles of Alma-Ata: decentralised, primary health care free at the point of care.
After 2008, when Margaret Chan invited Etienne to join WHO as Assistant Director General of Health Systems and Services, Etienne led the publication of the World Health Report on health systems financing, which was instrumental in the movement towards universal health coverage……”

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