The government of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica has nominated Dr. Carissa F. Etienne for a second term as director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PASB), the secretariat of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
PAHO said on Tuesday that Dr. Etienne’s nomination was contained in a letter to the President of PAHO’s Executive Committee, Argentinian Health Minister Dr. Jorge Lemus, “under the rules governing the election process for the position of Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau.”
May 1 was the deadline for countries to nominate candidates, PAHO said, adding that no other country submitted nominations.
PAHO Legal Advisor Dr. Nancy Machado detailed the regulations and process in a meeting at PAHO headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, attended by H.E. Juan Jose Arcuri, Argentina’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), and by Dr. Lemus via videoconference.
Arcuri noted that only one sealed envelope was submitted, nominating a candidate, and certified the nomination of Carissa F. Etienne on behalf of Dr. Lemus, PAHO said.
PAHO Member States will elect the new director during the 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference, scheduled for Sept. 25-29 2017 in Washington, D.C.
As required by PAHO’s Constitution, the director will have a five-year term of office and cannot be re-elected more than once.
The new term of office will begin on Feb.1, 2018 and end on Jan. 31, 2023.
PAHO said the process for electing the PASB director began on Mar. 1, 2017, when the president of the PAHO Executive Committee invited PAHO’s Member States, Participating States and Associate Members to submit nominations for the director’s post.
Each PAHO member state, participating state, and associate member may nominate only one candidate, who must be a citizen of a country of the region of the Americas, PAHO said. Etienne is a national of Dominica.
The submission deadline for nominations was May 1, 2017.
PAHO said all documents supporting Dominica’s nomination will be translated into the organization’s four official languages and made available to all PAHO member states, participating states, and associate members on or before June 1, 2017.
PAHO’s four official languages are English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
