Dr. Paul Anton Best has taken up a new temporary assignment with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as an Advisor for Health Systems and Services.
He will be based in Dominica under the PAHO/WHO Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries. His new duties took effect from August 9, 2023 and will run until August 8, 2024. Up to the time of his assignment to PAHO, Dr. Best was the Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Barbados.
His new role will include advising the Minister of Health of Dominica on the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Health System Transformation Initiative and the re-organisation of the Ministry of Health to effectively support the Health System Transformation process.
Acknowledging that he was excited about taking on the new assignment with PAHO, Dr. Best stated: “I have a lot of experience from various roles within the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Barbados which will prove to be useful in my new role of assisting Dominica with PAHO-supported projects to improve their health systems and services. I am also eager to learn more to improve my skills in public health for Barbados and other countries in the region.”
No stranger to PAHO, he has been associated with it for several years, providing health services to the Barbados Office, either as a participant at meetings or a facilitator at workshops in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries.
Prior to his role as Deputy Chief Medical Officer here, Dr. Best was the Senior Medical Officer of Health, (SMOH) with responsibility for the HIV/STI Programme – a role he held from 2007 until January 2021. In this position, he was the foremost advisor on policy, programmatic and clinical matters related to the prevention and control of HIV, STIs, Viral hepatitis and related diseases in Barbados.
He was recognised for his contribution to HIV and STIs in the region and was designated as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee on HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) of the Pan American Health Organization from 2017 to 2019.
As the SMOH, he was also pivotal in strengthening the national public health laboratory network. He oversaw the amalgamation of the public health laboratories; an ambitious undertaking which was supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Caribbean Med Labs Foundation (CMLF). He supervised the development of national laboratory strategic plans and a national laboratory policy.
Between February 2020 and January 2023, Dr. Best was a key member of the Health Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) of the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ National COVID-19 Response.
Additionally, he acted as the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) from March to June 2020, at the beginning of the local epidemic and was subsequently appointed as Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) with responsibility for assisting the Office of the CMO with matters related to COVID-19.
For his role during COVID-19, he was the recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship by the Rotary Club of Barbados in July 2020. He also received a national Gold Award of Achievement in November 2021 for his role in responding to COVID-19 in Barbados. His role of DCMO evolved beyond the COVID-19 remit to that of further supporting the Office of the CMO in its leadership and oversight roles for all Essential Public Health Functions for Barbados.
During his career, Dr. Best has managed or co-managed various health-sector projects with the World Bank, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Global Fund. He also co-authored several research articles published in peer-reviewed journals and delivered lectures in public health at various fora nationally, regionally and internationally. With the temporary assignment of Dr. Best to PAHO, it is expected that the Ministry of Health and Wellness will make an announcement as to who will act in the post of Deputy Chief Medical Officer.