Diah Satyani Saminarsih holds the post of director, just below director-general, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. What paths did she take to arrive at her position today?
By
Ninok Leksono
·5 minutes read
Arsip Pribadi
Diah S Saminarsih
Diah Satyani Saminarsih obtained her master degree in psychology in the United States, then worked at a consulting firm to learn about strategic communication and corporate restructuring. Now, she holds the post of director, just below director-general, at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva. What paths did Diah take to arrive at her position today?
If we look into her background, Diah’s involvement in public health grew and strengthened when she became an assistant to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) special envoy Nila F Moeloek in 2010-2014. During this time, her skills improved and her creativity grew. Two of her noteworthy initiatives while working at the office of the special envoy for MDGs were the MDG Awards and the Pencerah Nusantara.
The MDG Awards recognizes an individual, corporation or bureaucracy (province, regency or city administration) for their achievements in the MDGs, which consists of eight goals. In addition to poverty alleviation and education improvement, health is also a key goal, which includes reducing the child mortality rate, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other contagious diseases.
From her involvement in the program, Diah was able to develop her interests and skills in working toward achieving the MDGs, particularly in advancing the global partnership for development.
Pencerah Nusantara is a program Diah designed and managed to deploy young physicians to seven remote areas in eastern and western Indonesia.
Toward the conclusion of the 2015 MDGs, Diah became involved in several strategic initiatives on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), consisting of 17 targets for global transformation.
Deemed successful in carrying out her tasks and responsibilities, Diah was promoted to special staff for the health minister in 2014, when Nila Moeloek was appointed the Health Minister under President Joko Widodo’s administration. As a special staff, Diah was actively involved in international cooperation programs.
It was during this role that World Health Organization (WHO) became interested in Diah. Earlier, Diah had initiated the Nusantara Sehat (healthy archipelago) program to expand the availability of primary healthcare services in remote areas.
No special inauguration ceremony was held on Jan. 29, because there no such tradition existed. Yet, on that day, Diah began her work as director to the WHO director-general, an advisory role. Diah focuses on youth and gender issues and is tasked with raising them as mainstream issues.
As an Indonesian woman, Diah viewed accepting this position in a world body – aside from the greater responsibilities that came with it – as an honor.
This was certainly a big step forward – and possibly one she had never dreamed of – considering that, after returning to the country from her studies in Seattle, Diah worked as a consultant to reform the PT PLN management at its Jakarta and Tangerang offices.
Now, what does she want to fight for in her current position as an assistant to WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia?
“Access, parity and participation [of women and youths],” Diah said last week from Geneva.
Participation was crucial, because women and youths were drivers of change. The aim is to eradicate gender bias so women would become involved in making public health policies and decisions. Meanwhile, regarding healthcare access, Diah has vowed to fight for those living in remote areas far from healthcare facility and services. There is also a security program, mainly for women and youths in conflict or disaster areas.
Arsip Pribadi
Diah S Saminarsih
Mentor
She credits her understanding on health issues, from the MDGs to the SDGs, to Health Minister Nila Moeloek, who frequently took her to many international events and promoted her as a special staff. “Ibu Nila has been my mentor and coach over the past few years,” Diah said.
Through this mentoring, Diah’s views were broadened. Health problems are almost always rooted in poverty and lack of information. The negative impacts of the two conditions are observable in the people and their health.
When asked about the health crisis in Papua, Diah said that resolving the problem in Papua required a holistic, cross-sector intervention of a broad spectrum, beginning with health, social economy, governance – particularly dialogue between the central government and regional administration – infrastructure access and information access.
Regarding Nusantara Sehat, a strategic program the health ministry has prioritized to strengthen the healthcare services system and of which Diah remains a key figure, even though the entry point is health issues, its teams have been trained to build cross-sector collaboration in their respective regions.
After following a tight schedule of events between Jakarta and New York to speak about various partnership and international cooperation issues, Diah is now focusing on her work in Geneva.
She views her duties as an extension of her faith. To her children, she explains that their mother is carrying out humanitarian efforts to ensre the health of many people. According to the SDGs, the WHO’s 13th Global Work Program is “to save the lives of 3 billion people”.
