Janet Molzan Turan
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About Janet
Turan is a social and behavioral scientist whose research focuses on the areas of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV prevention and treatment in low-resource settings of both developing and developed countries. Her work focuses on understanding and addressing health-related stigma. Turan is the Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Sparkman Center for Global Health and Director of the Behavioral and Community Sciences Core of the UAB Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).
Contributions
The Reproductive Stigmas Faced by Low-Income Young Women in the Deep South
In the News
Publications
Discusses abortion related stigmas and the psychological harms it creates. Elaborates on stereotypes.
Explores conceptions of women’s “agency” within the phenomenon of women’s migration and violence during pregnancy, in a setting in Kenya with structural constraints including severe poverty, gender inequality and stigma.
Uses a prospective mixed-methods study design in rural Kenya to examine the role of women’s perceptions of HIV-related stigma during pregnancy in their subsequent utilization of maternity services.
Explores the roles of stigmas around unintended pregnancy, adoption, abortion, and keeping the baby in reproductive decision-making for young women in Birmingham, Alabama.
Describes the ways in which poverty and other structural factors create a risk environment for sub-optimal engagement in HIV care among low-income women living with HIV in the Southern USA, contributing to existing health disparities. Argues that interventions designed to improve engagement in HIV care should address structural factors to bolster low-income women's ability to engage in care.
Discusses how in 2013, Alabama's five abortion clinics required counseling in person or by mail, followed by a 24-hour waiting period. Examines the relationship between women's geographic access to services and timing of abortion care. Argues that regulations further restricting abortion would create substantial burdens for women and the limited provider network.
Discusses the fact that it is unlikely that the global commitments to virtual elimination of new HIV infections in children and reduced HIV-related maternal mortality by 2015 will be met unless major efforts at the global, national, community, and facility levels are made to identify and counter the multiple manifestations of HIV-related stigma facing pregnant women.