The for­mer di­rec­tor of the Pan Amer­i­can Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion (PA­HO) Do­mini­can-born, Dr. Caris­sa F. Eti­enne, died Fri­day of an ap­par­ent heart fail­ure. She was 71 years old.

Eti­enne, who re­cent­ly re­tired af­ter 10 years as di­rec­tor, was de­clared Di­rec­tor-Emer­i­tus on Sep­tem­ber 30, 2022, at the 30th Pan Amer­i­can San­i­tary Con­fer­ence.

“From a lit­tle girl in Mas­sacre, Do­mini­ca, walk­ing bare­foot, go­ing to school, be­ing as every oth­er child was. If that child can rise to be­come di­rec­tor of PA­HO, then there is hope for every child that walks the streets of the Amer­i­c­as (in­clud­ing the Caribbean),” said Eti­enne dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny.

WASH­ING­TON, Dec 1, CMC – 

CMC/2023