Dr Greene now UN special envoy for HIV in the Caribbean

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki- Moon, has appointed former Caricom Secretariat, Assistant Secretary General, Dr Edward Greene as UN special envoy for HIV in the Caribbean.

In this role, Dr Greene will be responsible for advancing the cause of HIV/ AIDs in accordance with the UN mandates, and in collaboration with the executive director of UNAIDS and the regional and national institutions in the Caribbean, the Caricom Secretariat said in a release.

Until recently, assistant secretary general for human and social development at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Dr Greene, also, Professor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies is credited with mobilising the political commitment that contributed to the establishment and sustainability of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/ AIDS. He chaired the PANCAP executive committee between 2001- 2006, and played an active role on the UN Global Task Team 2005-2007 which championed the cause of universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment.

Dr Greene was also involved in advocacy in the councils of Caricom and in international fora for the accelerated approach to HIV, in particular for reducing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. He also fashioned programmes in health, education, labour, youth, gender, culture, the environment and sport that fell under his portfolio as assistant secretary general for human and social development at Caricom to expand the reach of HIV in an inter-sectoral approach that would foster behaviour change and prevention as a critical response to the disease.

As a member of UNAIDS Global Task Team 2011, he assisted in the formulation of the strategy for eliminating mother to child transmission and keeping their mothers alive. This was an essential feature of the declaration, resulting from the UN high level meeting on HIV in June 2012.

One of his latest endeavours is the spearheading of the establishment of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), a consolidation of five regional health institutions into one agency. He sees this as a critical health sector response to HIV and a “bridge of hope” in the accelerated response to both HIV/ AIDS and non communicable diseases.

He has published widely and is the recipient of several awards for his contribution to the fields of health and HIV/ AIDS.