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A voice for communities

Hepatitis Australia is constituted by its eight state and territory foundation members. These are Australia’s leading community hepatitis organisations and represent the interests of people affected by hepatitis B and hepatitis C. They have created Hepatitis Australia to provide a united voice, national leadership and to amplify their work and achievements.

In this plan, Hepatitis Australia affirms its accountability to its members. We also uphold the central role of affected communities, including people at risk of hepatitis B and hepatitis C and people with lived experience of these conditions, whose voices must be central to the response.

In representing the interests of communities, Hepatitis Australia is guided by evidence, the availability of solutions and the imperative for greater urgency in the response to hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Implementation plan

 

What we will achieve How we will achieve it
Member and community interests
  • Place members’ interests, needs and priorities at the heart of everything we do.

  • Create accessible, inclusive spaces for dialogue and engagement with and among members.

  • Represent and profile members in national forums.

  • Promote the reach and achievements of members to amplify our national voice and demonstrate our collective impact.

  • Represent the interests of people affected by hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
The voice of those affected
  • Provide a platform for the voice and leadership of people affected by hepatitis B and hepatitis C, including the diversity of people with lived experience.

  • Create a pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance to guide Hepatitis Australia’s work, consistent with the objectives and priorities of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

  • Profile the ways lived experience is valued and embedded in Hepatitis Australia’s work and that of members.

  • Capture the issues and concerns of people from affected communities and share this intelligence with partners to inform policy, service re-design and the research agenda.

  • Recognise and promote the needs and interests of people who are not well represented, including people in prison, pregnant women with hepatitis B and migrants.

  • Give special attention to issues for people disengaged from care or otherwise lost to follow up and neonates who acquire hepatitis B, who otherwise have no voice.
Meaningful partnerships
  • Support the leadership of organisations representing communities including the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO); the Australian Illicit and Injecting Drug Users League (AIVL); Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association; Hepatitis B Voices Australia and the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA).

  • Strengthen shared agendas with ASHM, which represents health professionals in viral hepatitis, the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA), the Australasian Hepatology Association (AHA) and the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) to deliver this Strategic Plan.

  • Deepen partnerships with researchers and research institutes including the Burnet Institute, the Doherty Institute, the Kirby Institute, the Centre for Social Research in Health at the University of NSW, the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society and the Health + Law partnership between Hepatitis Australia, community clinical workforce partners and the University of Technology Sydney, the University of NSW and the Queensland University of Technology.

  • Recognising our shared goals, work closely with the Liver Foundation and commit to continuously deepening this partnership.

  • Identify opportunities for new partnerships, including with cancer and settlement organisations for migrants and refugees, and identify how Hepatitis Australia’s engagement at a national level can stimulate and support state and territory partnerships for our members.

  • Strengthen Hepatitis Australia’s alliances with other national BBV and sexually transmissible infection (STI) organisations and with organisations working across health, justice and social services portfolios.