Dr Lindsay Jane Barnes
IAS Annual Theme: Gestation
Jan Chetna Manch Bokaro
Originally from UK, Dr Barnes went to New Delhi, India for higher studies in 1982. After completing her PhD in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1989 she has continued to live and work in a remote village nearby the area where her doctoral field work was located, in the northern state of Jharkhand.
Whilst staying there she became involved in women’s health issues. Along with village women she helped develop the women’s health initiative of the community-based organisation, ‘Jan Chetna Manch Bokaro’. This involved the training of village women to take care of their own health problems, especially during pregnancy and childbirth, incorporating many positive traditional practices. This led to the establishment of a women’s health centre which provides care to around 1500 women each year and is open as a birth centre 24/7. In recognition of this she was made an honorary fellow of the RCOG in 2014.
She has worked with the various agencies, government and non-government, in the development of training materials especially for rural women.
She has also taken up research activities related to women’s health: indigenous birthing practices; quality of reproductive health care; postpartum contraceptive choices; access to abortion services.
During their IAS Fellowship, Dr Barnes is collaborating with Dr Ana Cristina Suzina from the Institute of Development and Social Change at Loughborough University London.