New Health+Law Webinar Profiling the Impact of the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre
Since 1992, the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) has been providing free legal services to people facing HIV- and hepatitis-related legal matters. HALC also plays a broader role in the constellation of community and health organisations that support and serve people living with blood-borne viruses, including as a source of legal information and education, and as a leading advocate for evidence-based law reform through advocacy and strategic litigation. As Australia’s first and only specialist community legal centre for people living with blood-borne viruses, HALC is central to ensuring that people in these communities receive access to justice.
This month, Health+Law hosted a webinar discussing aspects of HALC’s work and its impact with two lawyers at the Centre, Principal Solicitor Vikas Parwani and Strategic Policy Lawyer Bethany Rodgers. The conversation was sparked by the results of a recent impact evaluation, conducted by HALC in collaboration with members of the Health+Law team and with research design, advice and analysis oversight from independent evaluation and monitoring company Cultivating Change. The aim of the evaluation was to understand and assess how the specialist legal services provided by HALC improves the lives of people facing HIV- or hepatitis-related legal issues, while improving the systems and organisations that support them.
The evaluation will be useful reading for anyone interested in applied aspects of the intersection between health and law, the legal environment surrounding blood-borne viruses, and the specific, on-the-ground activities of a community legal service working to support people living with HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other priority communities in Australia.
The webinar includes an introduction to HALC’s history and mission from Health+Law research lead Scientia Associate Professor David Carter, and is hosted by Health+Law Research Associate Dr Dion Kagan. In conversation with Dion, Vikas and Bethany discuss HALC’s mission, reach, client profile and the types of legal issues they face. They describe the approach and design of the recent evaluation and some of its findings about the impact of HALC’s work on clients, the BBV-affected community and the legal environment surrounding HIV and viral hepatitis in Australia. The webinar closes with a brief discussion of the evaluation’s recommendations for HALC’s work in the future, including its potential to expand its services and reach into currently under-served jurisdictions.
Watch the webinar
Access the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre website
Read more about the Centre in this interview with HALC solicitor Danielle Munro
Read more about the impact of HALC’s work in the recent evaluation