PAHO/WHO for Suriname, 11 February 2020 - After a transfer process of two consecutive days, the official office transfer act from the outgoing PAHO/WHO Representative (PWR) Dr. Yitades Gebre to the incoming PWR Karen Lewis-Bell was signed on the 21st of January 2020.The main purpose of the transfer process was to provide the incoming Representative with an overview of the status of the political, technical, managerial and administrative operations of the Country Office.
The transfer was sufficient to allow her to begin to carry out her functions immediately, and with the view of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the technical cooperation program. Dr. Lewis-Bell is an experienced Immunization Technical Advisor for the Caribbean with a demonstrated history of working in the international health sector. Next to Immunization, she is skilled in Health Communication, Epidemiology, Prevention, Reproductive Health, and Health Promotion. Dr. Gebre gave her an overview of the national health situation, political environment and technical cooperation program in Suriname. He also reviewed and discussed the high level political and strategic aspects of his Final Mission Report.
In a meeting with all staff the technical officers reviewed and discussed the Technical Cooperation Program concerning the technical areas: Partnerships and Cooperation, Health Emergencies, Health Systems and Services, Family, Health Promotion through Life Course, Communicable Diseases, Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health.
In between, she got a tour in the office building and paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Health, H.E. Antoine Elias. Accompanied by her predecessor she offered her credentials to Minister Yldiz Pollack-Beighle of Foreign Affairs on the 24th of January 2020..
Fabricio Lima Security Focal Point, leaded a review of the supporting managerial administrative processes: Finance, Procurement, Human Resources Management, Information technology, General Services, Knowledge management and communications, Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The Implementation of Program Budget and the Physical and Virtual Maintenance of Infrastructure were also discussed.
At the end of the transfer process recommendations were formulated to improve the PAHO/WHO country presence and the execution of the technical cooperation program and managerial and administrative processes in the Country Office. Finally the official office transfer act was signed, but not before Dr. Lewis Bell said what can be expected of her.
