Center & Institute Affiliations
Contact Info
Research Interests
- Approaches to responding to and preventing violence against women
- Testing the effectiveness of positively engaging men in caregiving and improving couple communication to improve health outcomes
- Evaluating the effect of gender transformative leadership in the health workforce on retention of providers and quality of care
Additional Links
Experiences & Accomplishments
Ms. Myra Betron is a leader in integrating practical, evidenced-based approaches to addressing gender inequalities as a determinant of health. She has 20 years of experience designing, managing and implementing programs on gender and gender-based violence in the context of sexual and reproductive health in 17 countries. As Jhpiego’s Technical Director, Gender, she built a portfolio of 20 projects with 22 gender advisors and over 30 gender focal points. In this role, Ms. Betron has led the design and on-going implementation of minimum standards to ensure quality integration of gender into Jhpiego programs and Jhpiego-supported health services worldwide. She leads the integration of gender sensitive and transformative health interventions for USAID’s flagship $100 million global program for ending preventable maternal, newborn, and child death. Ms. Betron has previously held gender advisor roles for the World Bank, EngenderHealth’s CHAMPION project in Tanzania, the International Center for Research on Women, and Futures Group International. She has an Associate Faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she lectures on gender and health systems and serves on the leadership team of the Center for Global Women's Health and Gender Equity.
Select Publications
.
Gottert A, Shattuck D, Pulerwitz J, et al. Meeting men’s mental health needs during COVID-19 and beyond: a global health imperative. BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e008297.
Myra Betron, Anil Thapa, Roshani Amatya, Kusum Thapa, Elizabeth Arlotti-Parish, Anne Schuster, Jona Bhattarai, Sandhya Limbu, Malvern Tatenda Chiweshe, Poonam Rishal & Rolina Dhital (2021) Should female community health volunteers (FCHVs) facilitate a response to gender-based violence (GBV)? A mixed methods exploratory study in Mangalsen, Nepal, Global Public Health, 16:10, 1604-1617, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1839929
Doyle, K., Kazimbaya, S., Levtov, R. et al. The relationship between inequitable gender norms and provider attitudes and quality of care in maternal health services in Rwanda: a mixed methods study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 21, 156 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03592-0
Myra Betron, Ann Gottert, Julie Pulerwitz, Dominick Shattuck & Natacha Stevanovic-Fenn (2020) Men and COVID-19: Adding a gender lens, Global Public Health, 15:7, 1090-1092, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1769702
Oduenyi C, Banerjee J, Adetiloye O, Rawlins B, Okoli U, Orji B, Ugwa E, Ishola G, Betron M. Gender discrimination as a barrier to high-quality maternal and newborn health care in Nigeria: findings from a cross-sectional quality of care assessment. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021 Mar 4;21(1):198. doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-06204-x. PMID: 33663499; PMCID: PMC7934485.
Sitefane, G.G., Banerjee, J., Mohan, D. et al. Do male engagement and couples’ communication influence maternal health care-seeking? Findings from a household survey in Mozambique. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 20, 360 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-02984-y
Betron, Myra et al.(2019). Time for gender transformative change in the health workforce. The Lancet, Volume 393, Issue 10171, e25 - e26. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30208-9
Jaya Gupta, Myra Betron, Jane Brown & Rosemary Morgan (2019). Mainstreaming gender into global health programming to improve women’s health, Health Care for Women International, DOI: 10.1080/07399332.2019.1608209.
Betron, M., McClair, T., Currie, S. Banerjee, J. “Expanding the Agenda for Addressing Mistreatment in Maternity Care: A Systematic Mapping and Gender Analysis”. Reprod Health. 2018 Aug 28;15(1):143. doi: 10.1186/s12978-018-0584-6.
Plotkin, M., Kahabuka, C., Christensen, A. et al. Outcomes and Experiences of Men and Women with Partner Notification for HIV Testing in Tanzania: Results from a Mixed Method Study. AIDS Behav 22, 102–116 (2018).