Dh. Karunamati (Dr. Jane Stephens)
Welsh
Ethics of Intention and of Effect: Making decisions on how to act in a world full of need
Karunamati is a Doctor of Medicine and splits her time between working as a family doctor in London and working in Nepal. She is currently the Director of the Green Tara Trust, which works in the arena of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Nepal. She has worked in rural development for 18 years. Karunamati's passion is to work with women from disadvantaged backgrounds. She has worked to support women to find alternative methods of employment to sex work in the Himalayan foothills and to help other organizations doing similar work to co-ordinate activities. Her current programme is in Health Promotion, focusing on reducing maternal and infant deaths in rural areas through behaviour change.
The data from this programme is being used to inform change in the training curricula for all health workers in Nepal to include Health Promotion; currently there is little preventative health work in the Government health system. Her organisation is working with the Ministry for Health and Population in Nepal to implement these changes nationally. She also works to support people from sexual minorities to gain equal rights under Nepali law, in conjunction with other women's rights organisaitons. She is the author of numerous publications in this field. She is an experienced trainer; she is passionate about non-formal education in health and is also a visiting lecturer at various Univeristies and Medical Schools in the UK and Nepal in Health Communication and International Public Health.