School of Social and Political Science

Background

Research synopsis

My research focuses on maternal health in Bangladesh. It explores the constitution of the maternal health terrain in Bangladesh, investigating how competitive and co-constitutive relationships between public, private, development, and informal actors, along with their associated logics, shape the maternal health service terrain in Bangladesh's sub-national peripheries and how women navigate this volatile landscape as pregnant and childbearing subjects. It also investigates connections and disjunctures between global and national maternal health policy and programming and local realities.

Supervisors

• Dr Jeevan Sharma
• Dr Lucy Lowe

Funding

2019-2020 Tweedie Exploration Fellowship recipient

Publications (Selected)

• Rahman, AE; Perkins, JE; Salam, SS; Mhajabin, S; Hossain, AT; Mazumder, T; El Arifeen, S. What do women want? An analysis of preferences of women, involvement of men, and decision-making in maternal and newborn health care in rural Bangladesh, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 20, 169; March 2020.
• Perkins, JE; Rahman, AE; Mhajabin, S; Siddique, AB; Mazumder, T; Haider, MR; El Arifeen, S Humanized childbirth: The status of emotional support of women during birth in rural Bangladesh Reproductive Health Matters: Vol 27 (1); July 2019
• Perkins, JE; Rahman, AE; Siddique, AB; Mazumder, T; Haider, MR; El Arifeen, S Awareness and perceptions of women regarding the rights related to maternal health in rural Bangladesh Journal of Global Health Vol 9(1):010415; June 2019
• Rahman, AE; Perkins, J; Mazumder, T; Haider, MR; Siddique, AB; Capello, C; Santarelli, C; El Arifeen, S Capacities of women and men to improve maternal and newborn health: Effect of a community-based intervention package in rural Bangladesh Journal of Global Health Vol 1 No 1: 010413; June 2019
• Perkins, JE; Rahman, AE; Siddique, AB; Haider, MR; Banik, G; Tahsina, T; El Arifeen, S Opting for home birth in rural Bangladesh: an assessment of the current status and reasons Birth Vol 46(2); October 2018
• Siddique, AB; Perkins, J; Mazumder, T; Haider, R; Banik, G; Tahsina, T; El Arifeen, S; Rahman, AE Antenatal Care in Rural Bangladesh: Gaps in adequate coverage and content PLoS ONE 13(11): 0205149; November 2018
• Perkins, J; Capello, C; Bargo, A; Santarelli, C Shared Decision-making in Maternal and Newborn Health in Burkina Faso International Journal of Person-Centered Medicine Vol 5 Issue 2: 68-73; 2015
• Taleb, F; Perkins, J; Ali,N; Capello, C; Ali, M; Santarelli, C; Hoque, D Transforming maternal and newborn health social norms and practices to increase utilization of health services in rural Bangladesh: a qualitative review BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 15:75; March 2015

Conference Presentations (Selected)

• Unmapping a ‘system’: Biomedical maternal health service delivery in Bangladesh. RAIMed2022: Mobilising Methods in Medical Anthropology. Jan 18-21, 2022.
• Advancing person-centered maternal and newborn health care through birth preparedness and complication readiness in Netrokona, Bangladesh10th Geneva Conference on Person-centered Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland; May 7-10, 2017
• Challenges and solutions in collaboration between non-governmental implementing organizations and local research institutions in developing countries 9th European Congress for Tropical Medicine and International Health Basel, Switzerland; Sept, 2015
• Integrating community participation in maternal and newborn health services in Burkina Faso Geneva Health Forum; Global Health: Interconnected Challenges, Integrated Solutions; April 2014
• Complexities of top-down and bottom-up partnership building in Bangladesh and Burkina Faso Annual seminar of Be-Cause Health and Medicus Mundi International: Health-y Answers to Comple#ity: Are we able to move beyond the control panel? Brussels, Belgium, Nov 2013
• A role for traditional birth attendants in promoting person-centered care for women in Netrokona district, Bangladesh 5th Geneva Conference on Person-centered Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland; April 2012