Jane Wilson-Howarth

British author, lecturer and physician

Jane Wilson-Howarth

Wilson-Howarth in Madagascar

Born| Jane Margaret Wilson
1961
Epsom, England, United Kingdom
Pen name| Jane Wilson-Howarth
Occupation| author, lecturer, physician
Nationality| British
Genre| travel narratives, travel health, fiction
Subject| Nepal, Madagascar
Spouse| Simon Howarth (married 1987)
Children| Alexander
David (died 1996)
Sebastian
Website
www.wilson-howarth.com

Jane Wilson-Howarth CF, BSc (hons), MSc (Oxon), BM, DCH, DCCH, DFSRH, FRSTM&H, FFTM RCPS (Glasg) is a British physician, lecturer and author.[1] She has written three travel health guides, two travel narratives, a novel and a series of wildlife adventures for children. She has also contributed to anthologies of travellers tales, has written innumerable articles for non-specialist readers, and many scientific/academic papers.

## Personal life[edit]

Jane Wilson was born in Epsom Hospital, Surrey, as one of the three children of Peggy (Margaret) Thomas (1926–2015), from London, and a bibliophile, Joe Wilson (1920–2011), from Ballymena in Northern Ireland.[2] She grew up in Stoneleigh, a suburb just north of Ewell Village. She is married to Simon Howarth[3] and the couple live between East Anglia and Kathmandu.

## Education[edit]

She attended Stoneleigh East County Infants, Junior and Senior Schools, and also Cheam High School, but was challenged by dyslexia. She left school at 16 to study for an Ordinary National Diploma in sciences at Ewell Technical College (now North East Surrey College of Technology).

She then studied biological sciences at Plymouth Polytechnic, concentrating on invertebrates, pollution studies, environmental resource management, and completed a research project on cave microclimate and its influence on collembola. This involved countless trips into Radford Cave and led to her first publication.[4] During cave exploration in the UK she made extensive collections of invertebrates to document the species living in lightless environments.[5] In 1976 she was awarded a travelling scholarship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which funded a trip to Nepal.

The Nepal connection led to a veterinary research job and she wrote a thesis about rabbit parasites for an MSc from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Through this work she developed both an interest in immunology and a plan to work to help the poor in emerging nations. She then studied for a medical degree at the University of Southampton.

She gained a Diploma in Child Health (Royal College of Physicians, London 1992), a Diploma in Community Child Health (Royal College of Physicians, RCGP and Public Health Faculty, Edinburgh 1992), a Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2007) and a fellowship in the Faculty of Travel Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 2009. She was also elected a fellow of the British Global and Travel Health Association in 2017.

## Medical career[edit]

Since qualifying as a doctor of medicine, Wilson-Howarth has worked in general medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology in Swindon, orthopaedics in Salisbury and paediatrics at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She was employed on various child survival and hygiene promotion projects in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Nepal. Wilson-Howarth served as a National Health Service general practitioner (GP) in Cambridgeshire for over 15 years when she taught Cambridge medical students about general practice and also international health.

She lectures on travel health too, has contributed to numerous textbooks,[6][7][8] and on occasion to health stories for national newspapers.[9] [10] She helped provide clinical care to Syrian refugees in Greece for Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World in 2016. She works on occasion for Voluntary Service Overseas including in Nepal and also Nigeria.[11]

Wilson-Howarth lived in Nepal from 1993 until 1998 and then moved back there in 2017 where she worked as a volunteer writing clinical guidelines for Nepali paramedics and mentoring clinicians in remote mountain villages through the charity PHASE (Practical Help Achieving Self Empowerment). She has also contributed material to the bilingual Covid19 Nepal Support website and she has articles about Covid-19 in the online Nepali newspaper Setopati.[12][13]

## Influences[edit]

Dervla Murphy, Eric Newby, Hilary Bradt, Gerald Durrell, David Attenborough, Joe Wilson (her father).

## Sports and Expeditions[edit]

Wilson-Howarth started caving and also scuba diving while an undergraduate in Plymouth pursuing ecological studies. She did some cave diving and was probably the first woman to do decompression dives in the subterranean "lake" in Pridhamsleigh Cavern in Devon.[14] In 1973 she won the British Universities and Colleges individual canoe slalom event and on the same day also the seven-mile whitewater canoeing race. In addition she won the national colleges sailing championship. Wilson-Howarth spent six months on an overland trip to the Himalayan region; this was with a small team intent on finding new caves in Pakistan, India and Nepal and documenting what lived inside them. She began some research on histoplasmosis, on bat rabies and made extensive zoological collections mostly for the British Museum (Natural History) / Natural History Museum, London.[15]

In 1978–79 she rowed for Corpus Christi College, Oxford, the first year the college had fielded a ladies eight, when they won three "bumps" in Eights Week. In 2004 she took the sport up again at Cambridge, rowing in various races on the River Cam and at Eton Dorney.

While an undergraduate at Southampton she was involved in further expeditions – to Madagascar[16][17] and (leading a team of eleven) Peru.[18] She also organised a medical elective with Save the Children in Ladakh.[19] In 1983 she was awarded the BISH Medal by the Scientific Exploration Society for "courage and determination in the face of adversity".

The first Madagascar expedition led to a second, and this work contributed to the Ankarana Massif's recognition as an important refuge for mammals including the endangered crowned lemur, Sanford's brown lemur,[20][21] as well as smaller wildlife[22] and a previously unknown blind fish.[23][24] The Massif also proved to be a rich location where important sub-fossil giant lemur remains were discovered.[25][26][27]

## Writing[edit]

> The little propeller-driven plane droned along the line of the great Himalaya. The middle hills beneath us looked like a frozen, fathomless, choppy sea. Tossed as we were by turbulence and updrafts, we seemed as helpless and insignificant as a lost housefly buzzing over a threatening, deep-green ocean. Machhapuchharé, the fishtail, at nearly 7,000 metres, is as high as the highest Andean giants, yet from the air it looked tiny, overshadowed as it was by the Annapurna horseshoe, the tenth highest mountain in the world.

Jane Wilson-Howarth in A Glimpse of Eternal Snows[28]

Wilson-Howarth's writing almost invariably has a travel theme. Her first book (when she wrote as Jane Wilson), Lemurs of the Lost World (1990, 1995), is about expeditions to Madagascar and was described as the finest travel book thus far written about Madagascar by Dervla Murphy in the Times Literary Supplement.[29]

The Essential Guide to Travel Health has appeared in five editions having originally launched as Bugs Bites & Bowels in 1995. A new (6th) edition is due to be published in November 2023 as Staying Healthy When You Travel.

Your Child Abroad: a travel health guide is a family manual written in collaboration with paediatrician Matthew Ellis.

How to Shit Around the World is a compilation of toilet tales, and includes an introduction by Kathleen Meyer, author of How to Shit in the Woods.

A Glimpse of Eternal Snows (2012) is a poignant travel memoir[30][31] set in Cambridge and Nepal; it has received praise in the press;[32] a second edition was published in the UK in October 2012 and the artist who designed the cover was featured on BBC TV earlier that year.[33] A third edition was launched in India in 2015.

> Sometimes perhaps a short life and a happy one is better than anything we doctors can offer. A Glimpse of Eternal Snows is the proverbial life-changing book.

Dr James Le Fanu[32] in The Daily Telegraph

A Glimpse of Eternal Snows was also chosen for The National Year of Reading and by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire for its A Book a Day project in May. Wilson-Howarth's first novel Snowfed Waters was self-published in the UK early in 2014 and then was launched in 2017 by the Delhi-based publisher Speaking Tiger.[34] It is a fictional sequel to A Glimpse of Eternal Snows.

Wilson-Howarth has appeared at literary festivals including twice at the Cambridge Wordfest and has contributed to several anthologies, mainly of travel writing.

She has written more than 200 travel health features for Wanderlust and also some for Condé Nast Traveller.

From time to time she has contributed to The Independent newspaper and other national publications.[35][36][37] Simon Calder travel editor of the Independent newspaper called Wilson-Howarth one of the five most impressive travel authorities[38] and she was featured by Lonely Planet's on-line travel magazine.[39]

She often gives talks and readings especially in East Anglia, and is a member of the Society of Authors as well as Cambridge Writers. Wilson-Howarth is also active in the innovative Walden Writers cooperative, set up in Saffron Walden, Essex, by authors Amy Corzine and Martyn Everett in 2008, to cross-promote the work of its members, organise literary events, publish a magazine[40][41][42] and exchange information and support.[43] Some meetings are workshops for members' works in progress, some tackle marketing and other matter that were once the domain of publishers. Other members include biographer Clare Mulley, children's authors Victor Watson, Rosemary Hayes and Penny Speller, and historian Lizzie Sanders. Amy Corzine, Rosemary Hayes, Victor Watson, and Wilson-Howarth collaborated on a feature on writing for children for Juno magazine.[44]

## Broadcasting[edit]

Wilson-Howarth has given television interviews on BBC Breakfast, ITV Tyne Tees and Sky Travel as well as on national Radio 4 programmes including Excess Baggage, Breakaway, The Living World and Medicine Now, and also World Nomads.[45] She has also been interviewed live for radio programmes broadcast in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Ireland and innumerable local radio stations. She has also contributed often to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Afternoon Show.

## Bibliography[edit]

Travel Writing

* Wilson, Jane (2014). Lemurs of the Lost World: exploring the forests and Crocodile Caves of Madagascar. Impact, London. p. 216\. ISBN 978-1-874687-48-1.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2012). A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: a journey of love and loss in the Himalayas. Bradt Travel Guides, UK. p. 390\. ISBN 978-1-84162-435-8.
* Green, Stephanie; Françoise Hivernel; Sally Haiselden; Seeta Siriwardena; Jane Wilson-Howarth (2018). 50 Camels and She's Yours: tales from five women across five continents. Cambridge: Feedaread. p. 305\. ISBN 9781788764285.

Travel Health Guides

* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (1995, 1999, 2002, 2006). Bugs Bites & Bowels republished as The Essential Guide to Travel Health (see below)
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane; Matthew Ellis (1998). Your Child's Health Abroad: a manual for travelling families. Bradt / Globe Pequot. p. 198\. ISBN 1-898323-63-1.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane; Matthew Ellis (2015). Your Child Abroad: a travel health guide. Bradt. p. 212\. ISBN 978-1-84162-120-3.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2020). How to Shit Around the World: the art of staying clean and healthy while traveling (2 ed.). Travelers Tales, Calif. p. 178\. ISBN 978-1609521929.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2009). The Essential Guide to Travel Health: don't let Bugs Bites & Bowels Spoil Your Trip. Cadogan, London. p. 312\. ISBN 978-1-86011-424-3.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2023). Staying Healthy When You Travel: how to avoid bugs bites belly-aches and more. Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania. p. 320\. ISBN 978-1620083789.

Novels

* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2014). Snowfed Waters: a novel. FeedARead.com. p. 316\. ISBN 978-1-78407-322-0.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2016). Himalayan Kidnap: the first Alex and James eco-adventure set in Nepal. Eifrig Publishing, Lemont PA. p. 176\. ISBN 9781632331007.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2017). Himalayan Kidnap: the first Alex and James eco-adventure set in Nepal. Eifrig Publishing, Lemont PA. p. 234\. ISBN 9781632331274.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2017). Snowfed Waters: a novel. Speaking Tiger. p. 287\. ISBN 9789386338211.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2017). Chasing the Tiger: the second Alex and James eco-adventure set in Nepal. Eifrig Publishing, Lemont PA. p. 216\. ISBN 9781632331038.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2018). Himalayan Hostages: the first Alex and James wildlife adventure set in Nepal. Vajra Books, Kathmandu, Nepal. p. 215\. ISBN 9789937924597.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2018). Himalayan Hideout: the second Alex and James wildlife adventure set in Nepal. Vajra Books, Kathmandu, Nepal. p. 210\. ISBN 9789937924573.
* Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2021). Himalayan Heist: an Alex and James wildlife adventure set in Nepal. Vajra Books, Kathmandu, Nepal. p. 274\. ISBN 9789937624114.

Contributions Published in Anthologies and on-line magazines

* Barclay, Jennifer; Phillips, Adrian, eds. (2015). "Remnant of the Raj". To Oldly Go: tales of intrepid travel. Chalfont St Peter: Bradt Travel Guides. p. 240\. ISBN 978-1784770273.
* Lowen, James; Hilary Bradt (2019). Kidding Around: tales of travel with children. Chalfont St Peter: Bradt Travel Guides. p. 226\. ISBN 978-1784771058.
* Poems on Prescription. Society of Medical Writers, UK. 2012. pp. 103pp. ISBN 978-0-9573575-0-1.
* "Doctors writing about patients". Books by Women. 2014.
* "Power to Heal". When Women Waken. 2014.
* "Making time for writing". Books by Women. 2015.
* "Representing Refugees". Books by Women. 2016.
* "Writing Adventure Stories for Children". Books by Women. 2016.
* "Creating an Audiobook - in Kathmandu". Books by Women. 2021.

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Wilson-Howarth.com - - About The Author". www.wilson-howarth.com. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
2. ^ www.wilson-howarth.com/My-Dad.aspx
3. ^ "Well-travelled GP author". GP newspaper on line. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
4. ^ Wilson, J.M. (1975). "The effect of low humidity on the distribution of Heteromurus nitidus (Collembola) in Radford Cave, Devon". Transactions of the British Cave Research Association. 2 (3): 123–126.
5. ^ Hazelton, Mary. "Hypogean fauna collections". Transactions of the British Cave Research Association. 5 (3): 195.
6. ^ Johnson, Chris; Sarah Anderson; Jon Dallimore; Chris Imray; Shane Winser; James Moore; David Warrell (2015). Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 62–67 & 410–413. ISBN 978-0-19-929661-3.
7. ^ Field, Vanessa; et al. (2010). Health Information for Overseas Travel. London: National Travel Health Network and Centre. p. 378\. ISBN 978-0-9565792-0-1.
8. ^ Sharland, Mike; et al. (2011). Manual of Childhood Infections (Oxford Specialist Handbooks in Paediatrics). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 350–356. ISBN 978-0-19-957358-5.
9. ^ "Coping with travel sickness". Daily Telegraph. 10 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
10. ^ "Shortage of yellow fever vaccine". Independent newspaper on line. 2 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
11. ^ Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2018). "An investigation of an outbreak of malaria in International Citizenship Service (ICS) Volunteers in Nigeria". Journal of the British Global & Travel Health Association. XXIX: 1–3.
12. ^ "Viral Load and Covid-19 Risk". Setopati newspaper on line. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
13. ^ "Is Nepal Getting the 'best' COVID Vaccine?". Setopati newspaper on line. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
14. ^ "Diving an Azure Lake". Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. ^ Jane M. Wilson (1982). "A review of world Troglopedetini (Collembola, Paronellidae), including an identification table and descriptions of new species". Cave Science: Transactions of the British Cave Research Association. 9 (3): 210–226.
16. ^ Howarth, C.J.; et al. (1986). "Population Ecology of the Ring-tailed Lemur and White Sifaka at Berenty, Madagascar". Folia Primatologica. 47 (1): 39–48. doi:10.1159/000156262. PMID 3557229.
17. ^ Wilson, Jane M. (1987). "The Crocodile Caves of Ankarana, Madagascar". Oryx. 21 (1): 43–47. doi:10.1017/s0030605300020470.
18. ^ White, A.J. (1984). "Cognitive impairment of AMS and acetazolamide". Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine. 5: 598–603.
19. ^ Wilson, J.M. (1986). "Hair analysis and the assessment of marginal malnutrition in children from Little Tibet". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 80 (1): 168–9. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(86)90231-2. PMID 3726984.
20. ^ Wilson, J.M.; et al. (1989). "Ecology and Conservation of the Crowned Lemur at Ankarana, N. Madagascar with notes on Sanford's Lemur, Other Sympatrics and Subfossil Lemurs". Folia Primatologica. 52 (1–2): 1–26. doi:10.1159/000156379. PMID 2807091.
21. ^ Fowler, S.V.; et al. (1989). "A survey and management proposals for a tropical deciduous forest reserve at Ankarana in northern Madagascar". Biological Conservation. 47 (4): 297–313. doi:10.1016/0006-3207(89)90072-4.
22. ^ José G. Palacios-Vargas; Jane Wilson (1990). "Troglobius coprophagus, a new genus and species of cave collembolan from Madagascar with notes on its ecology" (PDF). International Journal of Speleology. 19 (1–4): 67–73. doi:10.5038/1827-806x.19.1.6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011.
23. ^ Banister, K.E. (1994). "Glossogobius ankaranensis, a new species of blind cave goby from Madagascar". Journal of Ichthyology & Aquatic Biology. 1 (3): 25–28.
24. ^ Wilson, Jane M. (1996). "Conservation and ecology of a new blind fish, Glossogobius ankaranensis from the Ankarana Caves, Madagascar". Oryx. 30 (3): 218–221. doi:10.1017/s0030605300021669.
25. ^ Wilson, Jane, ed. (1987). "The Crocodile Caves of Ankarana: Expedition to Northern Madagascar, 1986". Cave Science: Transactions of the British Cave Research Association. 14 (3): 107–119.
26. ^ Wilson, J.M.; et al. (1995). "Past and Present Lemur Fauna at Ankarana, N. Madagascar". Primate Conservation. 16: 47–52.
27. ^ Godfrey, L.R.; et al. (1996). "Ankarana: window to Madagascar's past". Lemur News. 2: 16–17.
28. ^ Jane Wilson-Howarth (2012). A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: a journey of love and loss in the Himalayas. Bradt Travel Guides, UK. p. 390\. ISBN 978-1-84162-435-8.
29. ^ "Memsahib on the Move". Times Literary Supplement. 8 March 1996. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
30. ^ "Mountain baby". The Guardian. 21 June 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
31. ^ To Live – and Die – with Dignity
32. ^ a b "A Short Life and a Happy One". The Daily Telegraph. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
33. ^ "BBC news piece on book covers". BBC News. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
34. ^ Tribune review of the novel Snowfed Waters
35. ^ "Never Travel Without". The Guardian. 15 January 2000. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
36. ^ Wilson-Howarth, Jane (2009). "Have children, will travel". Geographical. 81 (7): 67–70. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012.
37. ^ "8 Illnesses you could have brought back from holiday". The Telegraph. 7 September 2015.
38. ^ "Most Impressive Travel Authorities". The Independent. May 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
39. ^ Meet a Traveller
40. ^ Walden Writers One: an anthology of short stories, poetry and articles of interest. Walden Writers, UK. Spring 2009.
41. ^ Walden Writers Two: an anthology of short stories, poetry and articles of interest. Walden Writers, UK. Autumn 2009.
42. ^ Walden Writers Three: an anthology of short stories, poetry and articles of interest. Walden Writers, UK. Autumn 2010.
43. ^ Walden Writers Facebook page
44. ^ Juno magazine
45. ^ "The Travellers Curse". World Nomads. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2023.

## External links[edit]

* Jane Wilson-Howarth author website
* clip on writing Chasing the Tiger on YouTube
* author reading the opening pages of A Glimpse of Eternal Snows on YouTube
* Tribune review of the novel Snowfed Waters
* author blog
* Devon cave ecology paper [1]
* Walden Writers facebook page
* Cambridge Writers official website
* BBC Radio Suffolk interview with Jane Wilson-Howarth [2]
* Bradt Travel Guides page for Your Child Abroad e-book
* Bradt Travel Guides book page for A Glimpse of Eternal Snows
* Eifrig Publishing book page for Himalayan Kidnap
* Eifrig Publishing book page for Chasing the Tiger

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