Carissa Faustina Etienne (2 November 1952 – 1 December 2023) was a Dominican public health expert. She served as the director of the

Pan American Health Organization The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) in charge of international health cooperation in the Americas. It fosters technical cooperation among member countries to fight communicable and non ...

(PAHO) and regional director for the Americas of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO) (2018–2023). Up to her death, she was in her second five-year term as PAHO director, having been re-elected by the PAHO member states during the Pan American Sanitary Conference in September 2017. In January 2018, she was named Regional Director for the Americas for WHO by its Executive Board based in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. She was an advocate for universal health coverage.

Early life and education

Etienne graduated with a degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

in Jamaica. She held a master's degree in community health from the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institu ...

, UK.

Career

Etienne started her career as a medical officer in the Princess Margaret Hospital in Dominica. She was director of primary health care services, disaster coordinator, national epidemiologist in the Ministry of Health, coordinator of the National AIDS Program, chair of the National AIDS Committee, and had two separate terms as chief medical officer. Etienne was the assistant director of PAHO from 2003 to 2008. She served as the assistant director-general of health systems and services at the

in 2008–12. She was elected PAHO director in September 2012 and took up the position, which has a five-year term, in February 2013. She also served as honorary vice-president of the

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health pr ...

. On 27 September 2017, Etienne was re-elected for a second five-year term as director of PAHO by the member states of the organization. On 23 January 2018 the WHO Executive Board appointed her for a second term as WHO Regional Director for Americas. Etienne is credited for leading efforts by the World Health Organization's Pan American bureau, PAHO, to combat the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in the Americas. She is also credited for the organization's campaigns against

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

and yellow fever outbreaks in the countries of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Dr. Etienne also lead PAHO's efforts against the

Zika virus Zika virus (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family ''Flaviviridae''. It is spread by daytime-active ''Aedes'' mosquitoes, such as '' A. aegypti'' and '' A. albopictus''. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, where ...

and

Chikungunya Chikungunya is an infection caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The disease was first identified in 1952 in Tanzania and named based on the Kimakonde words for "to become contorted". Chikungunya has become a global health concern due to ...

epidemics in the Americas.

Death

Etienne died in the United States on 1 December 2023, at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etienne, Carissa 1952 births 2023 deaths Alumni of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Caribbean public health doctors Caribbean women physicians Dominica officials of the United Nations University of the West Indies alumni Women public health doctors World Health Organization officials 21st-century Dominica women 21st-century Dominica people 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians