Category Archives: Transhuman News

Editorial Desk

The Jakarta Post

Publication Date : 24-10-2014

On his second day in office, President Joko Jokowi Widodo received a gift from the UN, said Desra Percaya, Indonesias permanent representative to the UN. Indonesia retained its seat on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) having been re-elected by UN members to represent Asia, alongside India, Bangladesh and Qatar.

Desra said Indonesias reelection was a real display of trust by the international community in Indonesias human rights protection and promotion, strengthening democracy consolidation, as well as a form of optimism in our new government.

The President seems fully aware of all the expectations being placed upon his skinny frame, regardless of the limitations he may have in addressing issues from A to Z. With regard to human rights, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has left him with a contradicting legacy of international recognition of Indonesias progress, and a largely impenetrable wall blocking ways to resolve past and current human rights violations.

Given this highly complex backdrop, Jokowis close supporters have confided that consolidation is Jokowis priority, as he must reach out and embrace the many different parties to find sufficient common ground before setting out his agenda with minimal distraction.

The painfully slow days needed to form his Cabinet are evidence of that difficult first step to start his five years in office.

In resolving human rights, one challenge is gaining enough interest from a public that might press him to move forward, rather than dwell in the past. On human rights, his vision and mission titled Nawacita, one of his citations from founding father Sukarno, states the goal of strengthening the presence of the state, among others by upholding the law through prioritising just settlement of past human rights violations.

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A gift of trust

Dr. Karen DeSalvo is leaving her post as head of the U.S. governments Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to assist Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell with the departments response to the Ebola epidemic.

DeSalvo, officially named acting assistant secretary for health at HHS, as a background in public health, will assist Burwell on pressing public health issues, including becoming a part of the departments team responding to Ebola, according to an HHS statement e-mailed to reporters. Dr. DeSalvo has deep roots and a belief in public health and its critical value in assuring the health of everyone, not only in crisis, but every day.

Prior to becoming national health IT coordinator in December 2013, DeSalvo served as health commissioner for the City of New Orleans, where she helped the city rebuild its public health infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina.

ONC Chief Operating Officer Lisa Lewis will serve as acting national coordinator, according to the HHS statement. The department said that DeSalvo will remain as acting assistant secretary until the Senate can confirm a permanent replacement, and that she will continue to be available to ONC as needed.

There has been no official word whether DeSalvo has been nominated to be permanent assistant secretary for health.

This news continues a period of turnover in ONC leadership.In July, the office lost Lygeia Ricciardi, director of the ONCOffice of Consumer eHealth eHealth, as well as Chief Privacy Officer Joy Pritts. Lucia Savage replaced Pritts just last week, and Lana Moriarty took over the Consumer eHealth office in September.

Also last week, Judy Murphy stepped down as director of theOffice of Clinical Quality and Safety at ONC to become chief nursing officer ofIBM IBM Healthcare Global Business Services.

Earlier this month, Dr. Jon White was put on part-time detail from HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to serve as interim head of the ONC Office of Clinical Quality and Safety and acting ONC chief medical officer, while Dr. Andy Gettinger ofDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire was named interim head of patient safety for the IT office. ONC has been without a permanent CMO since Dr. Jacob Reider became deputy national coordinator in September 2013.

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DeSalvo Leaving ONC To Work On U.S. Ebola Response