Hear from an expert on the politics of infectious disease response in an engaging talk on Thursday, Mar 6, from 4-6 pm on the UFV Abbotsford campus (room A225).
As Canadians emerge from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are entering a profoundly unequal and divided world.
This is characterized by deepening health and wealth inequities, political polarization, and new global health challenges arising from the climate crisis and other planetary threats. Responding to these challenges in an ethical, effective manner will require new forms of global solidarity and a commitment to health equity that transcends narrowly defined state interests.
To make sense of how Canada is and ought to be responding to pandemics and other infectious disease threats in a deeply interconnected and inequitable world, we must reassess the tensions, divisions and systems failures that COVID-19 laid bare, and ask whether past, current and proposed responses, domestically and globally, are adequate for producing equitable long-term infectious disease prevention and response strategies.
Dr. Suzanne Hindmarch is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Brunswick. She studies the politics of infectious disease response, focusing on the origins, impacts and efficacy of the policy and political strategies through which infectious disease is addressed at global, national and sub-national levels. In particular, Dr. Hindmarch examines the conditions under which the health of equity-deserving groups is (or is not) advanced in infectious disease response, especially in the context of global health security. She also studies the interface of global and domestic infectious disease governance, asking why global infectious disease response strategies are adopted, adapted or resisted domestically, and how states advance domestic priorities via global health governance mechanisms.
Dr. Hindmarch holds a PhD in political science (Toronto), an MA in international development studies (Dalhousie) and a BA in political science (Alberta). Prior to her academic career she worked in community-based AIDS organizations and in the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Thu, Mar 6, 2025
4 to 6 pm
UFV Abbotsford, room A225