FACE Interview: Ronald O'Connor
Ronald W. O'Connor: Guided by a Japanese Doctor
In 1962, Ron O'Connor—a medical student working in Nepal as a volunteer for a health project—met a Japanese doctor working on TB prevention and community health development, and his outlook on life changed. It was Dr. Noboru Iwamura, who, over many years, dedicated himself to working to improve the health of people in Asia. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1993 to recognize his many contributions.
"Dr. Iwamura was trying hard to work with the Nepali community, always respecting the dignity of all and supporting their own initiatives to improve health." O'Connor found a new model of a doctor in Iwamura, beyond the traditional role of providing medical treatment. O'Connor sensed Iwamura's compassion toward people and desire to help them to become more independent, enabling them to solve their problems by themselves.
Back in the United States, O'Connor felt that he needed to know more about management theories and tools to work more effectively in projects for public health and medical cooperation in developing countries. In 1971, he established Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a private nonprofit organization, to realize the spirit he saw in Iwamura: to provide technical assistance in public health management for developing countries. O'Connor is now the Chief Executive Officer of MSH, and the organization has worked on more than 100 projects of various sizes in all parts of the world.
"We provide technical advice and train local people to manage projects in family planning and maternal and child health." In Afghanistan, where the state-run services were almost completely destroyed by the prolonged civil conflict, midwives trained by MSH are still working at the front line of health care services in villages. O'Connor says, "Our role is to be a catalyst for them to be independent."
During his recent visit to Japan, O'Connor advocated that "maternal and child mortality in many developing countries are a hundred times and ten times higher than those in Japan and the United States. MSH wants to work with Japan to provide the necessary assistance to people in these countries so that they can solve problems on their own." He feels that it can be his way to thank Iwamura.