In this brief news update, we’re sharing information about two upcoming sector events:

• World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Viral Hepatitis (WIPVCH)
• Webinar: The changing legal needs of people living with BBVs — Perspectives from lawyers and clinicians.

World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Viral Hepatitis (WIPVCH)

• Dates: 23-24 June Australia time (22-23 June CST)
• Time: 5:00am-9:00am Australian Eastern Standard Time (2:00pm-6:00pm CST)
• Organiser: WIPVCH
• Register: https://hopin.com/events/world-indigenous-peoples-conference-on-viral-hepatitis

Next week the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Viral Hepatitis (WIPVCH) will be held as a completely free online event.

Viral hepatitis disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples throughout the world, harming their physical, spiritual, emotional, social and economic health. This is often a result of the ongoing impacts of colonialism, which has led to significant health inequities, including inadequate access to immunization and treatment and government inaction concerning to the provision of resources to enable culturally-safe healthcare for Indigenous peoples.

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C overburden Indigenous people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia are approximately four times more like to contract Hepatitis B, and Māori and Pacifika in New Zealand have twice the national rates of Hepatitis B. In Canada, First Nations people are seven times more likely to contract Hepatitis C. Indigenous peoples in Asia, Central and South America, and Africa also tend to have higher rates of viral hepatitis. Detailed and robust epidemiological data is often missing, but it’s clear that hepatitis disproportionately affects Indigenous people, and the 2022 WIPCVH is vital to tackling this problem.

The conference will feature leading hepatitis experts and Indigenous leaders in health and wellness, the latest medical and frontline developments in hepatitis testing, treatment and care. It will centre the wisdom and knowledge of Elders alongside lived experiences of hepatitis and cultural performances!

Read the program

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Webinar: The changing legal needs of people living with BBVs — Perspectives from lawyers and clinicians.

• Date: 29 June
• Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time
• Organiser: ASHM, HALC, UTS Law, Hepatitis Australia and NAPWHA
• Register: https://utsmeet.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dtDhSip1Q52XTqOJ8bkCgQ

Clinicians, support workers, peers and lawyers are often asked to support individuals living with a blood-borne virus through various legal processes, but what do these legal needs look like? How are they changing over time? What impacts do these legal needs have on people with blood-borne viruses, and which are their highest priorities?

Join ASHM, HALC, UTS Law, Hepatitis Australia and NAPWHA to learn more about the changing legal needs of people living with blood-borne viruses in Australia.

• Rhys Evans (HALC) will present an analysis of how HALC’s clients have changed over the past 30 years, and what legal needs they bring to the service today.
• Benjamin Riley (ASHM) will present the results of a recent survey of the STI and BBV workforce about the legal needs of their clients and patients, as well as how widespread and serious those needs can be.
• Carrie Fowlie (Hepatitis Australia), Aaron Cogle (NAPWHA) and David Carter (UTS) will discuss these results and the changing face of legal needs, including the rise of migration-related issues. This will include a discussion of the early results of new interview-based research on the experiences of people migrating to Australia while navigating law and their health.

The webinar will offer clinicians, researchers, community members and others the opportunity to ask questions of experts in their field and gain further insight into the changing legal needs facing our community today.

Hepatitis Australia