John Evans Lectureship in Global Health

Across the world, inconsistent responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in human rights violations, from arbitrary detention to vaccine apartheid. In Brazil, the federal government adopted a strategy that involved indiscriminately spreading the disease, driven by former President Jair Bolsonaro's prioritization of economic and electoral priorities. Bolsonaro's ideological perspective included elements of eugenics, particularly targeting the elderly and Indigenous people. The consequences of his government's actions amplified the harmful effects of the health crisis on made-marginalized communities. Drawing from her day-to-day research and analysis of the Bolsonaro regime’s legal maneuvers and rights violations, Professor Ventura will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic using transitional justice pillars such as memory, truth, justice, reparation, and non-repetition. She will also reflect on how these pillars can contribute to addressing health crises and ensuring that human rights violations are prevented from occurring in the future.

Dr. Deisy Ventura, PhD

Deisy Ventura is Professor of Global Health Ethics and Vice-Director of the PhD Program in Global Health and Sustainability at the Faculty of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. She has a PhD in International Law from the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne and has served as a juridical consultant to Mercosur on trade and human rights issues, and to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the COVID-19 response. Named a prestigious Research Productivity Fellow of Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) based on her national and international research and publications trajectory, she served on the Lancet Commission on synergies between universal health coverage, health security, and health promotion, and co-chairs BMJ’s Latin America advisory board. Her current research focuses on global health ethics and the human rights situation during international health emergencies, among other critical studies on global health. She is co-chair of the Working Group Agreement on Pandemics and Reform of the International Health Regulations USP/Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

A light reception will take place at the end of the event. Wholesome snacks and sweet treats will be provided.

Cosponsors for John Evans lecture: SSHRC Connection grant, Institute for Pandemics, DLSPH

If you have any inquires related to this event, please email: [email protected].

Interested in similar events? Don't miss the 2 day conference on October 2nd and 3rd on Exploring International Pandemic Responses through a Social Science lens: Decolonial paradigms and solidarity networks. Find out more here:

Day 1: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/oct-2nd-exploring-pandemic-responses-through-a-social-science-lens-tickets-1013145354027

Day 2: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/oct-3rd-exploring-pandemic-responses-through-a-social-science-lens-tickets-1013185072827

Host or Publisher Centre for Global Health