Why Health+Law? And why now?
Health+Law is a project to seek out and eliminate the legal issues causing harm to people living with HIV and Hepatitis B in Australia. As we get started with this necessary and long-overdue work, we want to communicate what makes it so important.
The simple reason is that we’ve been told it is. Through our conversations with the blood-borne virus sector as well as in-depth, qualitative interviews with people living with HIV and Hepatitis B, we have heard testimony about the impact that legal issues can have on our community.
Participants in our pilot research explained to us how their legal needs - especially around migration - could overwhelm their entire lives, impacting their careers, family life, mental health, and engagement with community. We learned that access to specialised legal services such as the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) went a long way to mitigating those impacts, but that knowledge of HALC and its services was not widespread, and often only came after a drawn-out struggle to seek out quality information and support.
Given that the first and last national review of the law and HIV was carried out over thirty years ago, it’s unsurprising that the current legal environment in Australia is under-serving those living with this condition. The demographic of people living with HIV has shifted dramatically since the 90s, and their legal needs have changed accordingly – and largely unmonitored. As for Hepatitis B, such a review has never taken place.
What makes this project so important is that it will advance our understanding of how the law affects people living with blood-borne viruses today. With invaluable input and direction from HIV- and Hepatitis B-related organisations across the country, Health+Law will work to identify and eliminate the legal issues that are causing harm to our communities.
As we proceed in this work, we’ll provide regular updates here on the blog as well as links to further reading. We look forward to sharing our progress with you.
Further reading