Assistant Director-General, Health Systems and Services, at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr Carissa Etienne, has been elected director of the Pan American Health Organisation, succeeding Argentine national Dr Mirta Roses.
Dr Etienne, a Dominican national, brings a wealth of experience and understands the issues affecting small countries in the Caribbean such as HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and immunisation. She will commence her five-year tenure on February 1, 2013.
This is the second time a Caribbean national is holding the post, the first being Sir George Alleyne. Dr Roses, who succeeded Sir George, has served for 10 years and has done a lot for the development of health policies and representing the Caribbean during her tenure.
According to a GINA release Dr Etienne was elected to head the organization during the Pan American Sanitary Conference in Washington DC, which is held every five years and at which countries that comprise PAHO are represented by their health ministers.
Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran and Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud attended the conference during which Ramsaran chaired a partners forum for the donors who contribute to the development of the new Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
Ramsaran, who is also chairman of the CARPHA Board, chaired its fourth meeting, which looked at a number of important issues regarding the establishment of CARPHA which will be located in Trinidad and Tobago. Plans are in train for the construction of a new a lab for the agency, GINA said.
The successful establishment of CARPHA will see the five existing health institutions that serve the Caribbean being brought under one umbrella: the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI), the Caribbean Environmental Health Agency (CEHA), the Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory (CRDTL) and the Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC).
Meanwhile, Persaud told GINA that two of those organisations are PAHO agencies and in that regard Ramsaran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PAHO’s current director to bring them under the CARPHA umbrella. This action will see the retiring of CFNI and its functions relating to food policy and nutrition in the Caribbean taken over by CARPHA.
There was also the Caucus of Health Ministers of Caricom meeting where the Ministers deliberated on the general health agenda of the Caribbean. Some of the areas they discussed include the 3rd phase of the Caribbean Charter for Health and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
GINA said the ministers agreed that Caricom countries will continue to work with the WHO agenda as defined under the UN High Level meeting, which was held recently on NCDs, where four diseases – cardiovascular, diabetes, cancers and illnesses relating to chronic respiratory issues – will be the first priority in the planning phases for the next three-five years.
Guyana was able to share its achievements of the diabetic foot care programme where the focus is on prevention or saving limbs.
Persaud indicated that this is a very big task since it is not just about providing treatment and care but, most of the efforts target reducing the risk factors as most times when such a disease is present, health professionals are not able to achieve any cure.
It is hoped that under the Port of Spain Declaration each country, as mandated, will be able to establish a committee to deal with these issues. GINA said that Guyana’s Health Ministry already has an oversight committee for NCDs. However, there is now a need to expand to include others such as the media.
Attention was also placed on the implementation of the International Health Regulations of 2005 which Guyana signed on to in 2007. Since then Guyana was given up to June 2012 to put all the systems in place however, there were two areas where Guyana was not able to achieve full compliance, nuclear and chemical threats, GINA stated.
