Associate professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University
Valerie Percival is an associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. Her research focuses on the impact of violent conflict on the health of civilians, gender and health systems, and policy networks. She serves on the Commission on Peace, Justice, and Gender Equality for Healthy Societies overseen by The Lancet and the Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation. She has held positions at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and the International Crisis Group, heading their Kosovo Office. She holds a doctorate from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an MA from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and a BA from the University of Toronto.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the complexity of our world. A world where interconnection brings unprecedented opportunity and risk. And one where rigid institutions and hierarchical policy processes seem unable to effectively manage that risk.
Canada has been working to empower women
globally for decades — why aren’t we making more progress? As Valerie Percival
writes, efforts to build gender equitable societies must work on both the
bricks (laws, formal institutions and services) and the mortar (societies’
beliefs around gender).
International health is not just a development issue — it is connected to trade deals, conflict and the climate. That’s just another reason why Canada should prioritize it, and here’s how.
Canada helps provide vital services that keep women alive. Then these women return to the same unequal world that almost killed them.
Global advocacy. A G7 meeting and a donor conference. Financial aid for those still in Syria. These are initiatives Canadians and government should push for.
Master buzzwords and be rewarded — is that the Canadian way? A call for more substance and innovative thinking in policy discussions and practice
Valerie Percival on what the latest outbreak in West Africa can teach us about our response to infectious disease outbreaks globally.
