Hepatitis B Health + Law research partnership Legal issues, particularly related to migration, employment, education and discrimination, have been raised by the Hepatitis Australia membership as recurrent barriers experienced by people living with hepatitis B in Australia. Further the National Hepatitis B Strategy has a goal of eliminating the negative impact of legal issues on people’s health, however there has been no specific activities to realise this goal. In response to this unmet community need and lack of implementation, a landmark multi-year national partnership project was developed and subsequently funded by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care. The project is called Health+Law and draws on the expertise of people affected by hepatitis B and hepatitis community organisations to help realise this national policy goal. The Health+Law partnership brings together Hepatitis Australia, the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC), ASHM Health, the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA), UTS and UNSW Sydney’s Faculty of Law & Justice, and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) School of Public Health and Social Work. Health+Law will have four principal activities, to be delivered over four consecutive years – 2022-2026: National assessment of enabling legal environment and barriers to testing and treatment: a national survey of people living hepatitis B; in-depth interviews with culturally diverse and Medicare-ineligible priority groups; and technical legal analysis, to create Australia’s first evidence-base of legal barriers and enablers to better health outcomes. Understanding the different impacts of legal barriers: an analysis of relative impacts on testing and treatment, quality of life, and health New national project to identify and eliminate legal barriers for people living with hepatitis B 48 HEPATITIS AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2022/23 service delivery, to understand priorities for legal support and services, and law and policy reform. Development of STI- and Blood-Borne Virusspecific legal needs screening and referral tool and education: the co-design and validation by clinicians, people with lived experience, peers and other key stakeholders of a screening tool and online education support, to help triage legal needs and determine most suitable legal support and services. Establishment of national network of specialist STI and Blood-Borne Virus-responsive legal services providers: the setting up of standards, accreditation, and continuing legal education, to increase nation-wide capability for identifying and eliminating legal barriers to testing and treatment. To date Hepatitis Australia has worked closely with the Health+Law research team on a series of projects, including a national roundtable with members on the legal needs and issues facing people living with hepatitis B in each state and territory, and the impacts on members and the response; and supporting an industry PhD. Ongoing work is continuing. New resources and publications include: Advocacy & Education: Blood-Borne Virus Infection via Spitting or Biting Health+Law Chief Investigators Dr Anthea Vogl and Dr David Carter and Research Assistant Dr Elsher Lawson-Boyd authored a Brief on Blood-Borne Virus (BBV) Infection via Spitting or Biting. Read the Blog post Read the Brief You can also read the joint statement by Hepatitis Australia and ASHM: Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are not transmitted through saliva. The Legal Needs of People Living with an STI or BBV: Perspectives from a sample of the Australian Sexual Health and BBV Workforce This article, published in the Journal of Law and Medicine, presents the first data on the incidence and impacts of unmet legal needs for those affected by a Sexually Transmissible Infection (STI) or Blood Borne Virus (BBV) in Australia using a survey administered to a sample of the Australian sexual health and BBV workforce. Read the article Hepatitis Australia is proud to be a partner of Health + Law. Hepatitis Australia would particularly like to recognise the peer researchers who have been critical to the success of the partnership so far. Find out more: www.healthpluslaw.org/ Manage Cookie Preferences