A prominent Harvard doctor and Haiti advocate completed his first visit to the Caribbean nation Tuesday in his new capacity as the United Nations' deputy special envoy.

Paul Farmer made the five-day visit as part of a follow-up trip that UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton made last month to Haiti, which suffered extensively last year because of back-to-back storms, food riots and a nearly five-month political crisis. The trip's goal: gauge how best to support the Haitian government in its national recovery plan.

During his visit, Farmer met with Haitian President René Préval and Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis and other government officials, as well as with business leaders and representatives from the UN and nongovernmental organizations. Farmer also visited the Central Plateau region and Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city, where he met with local leaders and tourism officials.

Farmer, a pioneer in community health treatment for the world's poor, was appointed deputy special envoy for Haiti by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Like Clinton, Farmer is on a $1-a-year contract with the UN. Farmer and Clinton have known each other for 15 years and worked together since 2005.

Farmer was tapped for the job last month.

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