Jim McMahan, Senior Program Manager

“I became interested in family planning when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal,” says Jim McMahan, senior program manager with IntraHealth. During his two years in Nepal, Jim saw how difficult it was for families with large numbers of children, and that spurred his interest in public health, in which he eventually earned a master’s degree. He then focused on specializing in health management as well as family planning.

In 1995, while employed with the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Jim began working with IntraHealth on its PRIME Project. IntraHealth then hired Jim when the PRIME II Project began. Now, he oversees the organization’s projects in Tanzania as well as Uganda and South Sudan.

“I think IntraHealth is different from many other organizations in that it’s not very hierarchical,” he notes. “It’s more informal in terms of relationships and communication with people at all levels, and I appreciate that the executive team is inclusive and listens to staff members’ ideas and opinions when making decisions.” 

Jim says he was originally drawn to IntraHealth because he saw how much it benefitted people in the countries where the organization had projects. He still sees its impact, and he knows, too, that a great need for health care still exists in so many countries. A year ago, he was reminded of this when he traveled to a remote village in Zambia. He and several other IntraHealth staff members were visiting a health center where IntraHealth had trained community members to counsel and test people for HIV.

“While we were there, a young boy, maybe six or seven, came in and was screaming because he was feeling so sick,” Jim says. An IntraHealth staff member diagnosed the child as having cerebral malaria, and the situation was dire: the boy needed help right away. “So we piled him and his mother in our vehicle and took them 20 miles to the main road and dropped him off at a health center where he could get the care he needed. They treated him there, and he got better,” he explains, “but there’s no transportation in the area where he lived. If we hadn’t been there, there would’ve been no way for him to get out and get care. He would have died.”

It is the successes that IntraHealth achieves that keep Jim optimistic—for example, in Tanzania, an IntraHealth project team is well on its way to reaching its goal of circumcising 25,000 men in one year as part of its HIV prevention strategy. “It’s phenomenal,” Jim states.

Just as Jim’s first experience in Nepal affected him greatly, his work abroad continues to do so. “I’ve been able to travel to so many countries—it’s been wonderful to meet people and learn about them, their country, their language and culture,” he says. “It has enriched my life enormously.” 

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