{"id":7045,"date":"2025-12-10T07:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hepatitissa.asn.au\/communitynews\/?p=7045"},"modified":"2025-12-09T11:48:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T02:18:42","slug":"community-leaders-share-concerns-about-hepatitis-b-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hepatitissa.asn.au\/communitynews\/2025\/12\/community-leaders-share-concerns-about-hepatitis-b-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Leaders Share Concerns About Hepatitis B and the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hepatitis B is Australia\u2019s most prevalent blood-borne virus, with nearly 220,000 people estimated to be living with chronic infection. In a recent report called \u2018If Hepatitis was 100 People\u2019<\/a>, Hepatitis Australia<\/a> spotlit the radical diversity of this population. It includes a high concentration of people who were born overseas (about 70%), typically in parts of the world with higher hepatitis B prevalence or where vaccination programs have historically been limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these people (about 56%) speak languages in addition to English in their homes. Around 7% are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 4% are men who have sex with men, and 3% percent are people who inject drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If Hepatitis was 100 People\u2019 is an illuminating report, vividly showcasing the tremendous heterogeneity of the hepatitis B-affected population.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Role of the Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The report also includes some concerning findings about access to hepatitis B care. Drawing on recent epidemiological evidence<\/a>, it states that more than half of all people living with hepatitis B in Australia are not receiving the essential liver and viral load monitoring they need \u2013 key monitoring that determines if and when they should receive antiviral treatment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, the lived experience<\/a> of hepatitis B is also associated with significant psychosocial impacts: anxiety, financial instability, stigma, discrimination and social marginalisation. Locally, it particularly affects communities that already experience elevated financial and social stress, obstacles to accessing health care and legal problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health+Law<\/a> is a research partnership to identify and eliminate legal barriers to testing and treatment for people living with hepatitis B and HIV in Australia. Understanding more about these legal problems is one of their core aims<\/a>. What is the role of law in the lived experience of hepatitis B? And how does law stand in the way of healthcare access, making existing obstacles worse? When and how is the law enabling, and how can that positive impact be leveraged further?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research on other health conditions, including other blood-borne viruses like HIV and hepatitis C, has shown the huge power of law as a driver of both positive and negative health outcomes. But when it comes to hepatitis B, there is very little evidence in this area. Health+Law’s recent report, \u2018Hepatitis B and the Law in Australia\u2019<\/a> made some inroads by mapping the appearance of hepatitis B in formal legal processes or disputes. More comprehensively, the forthcoming results<\/a> of their national legal needs study (LeNS<\/a>), reports on how people living with hepatitis B experience and respond to the law in everyday life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question for Health+Law has been the experience of people who work with hepatitis B-affected communities: peers, organisation leaders, clinical and organisation staff and volunteers. What are their perspectives on hepatitis B and the law?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Collective Deliberation of Community Leaders<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Health+Law published findings on the perspectives of members of the sexually transmitted diseases (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) clinical workforce on the legal needs affecting their clients from priority populations. Also at that time, they assembled leaders of hepatitis-related community organisations from around Australia to pursue this line of inquiry with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was early in the research process, and the aim at that point was to gain a collective sense of what key leaders and stakeholders working with hepatitis B-affected people and communities saw as the most impactful and urgent areas of legal concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health+Law\u2019s chief investigators met with ten people from across national organisations for a type of roundtable, consensus-building discussion of the topic. The results of that process supported and guided the design of the LeNS, and particularly its processes for participant recruitment. A complete report of that deliberation process is now available as an article in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry<\/em><\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consensus process was designed following the nominal group technique<\/a>, which aims to generate new information about a topic through participant-led contributions and group prioritisation of material. The ten participants were peers and\/or professional staff with leadership roles in state, territory and national not-for-profit, community-based organisations that represent and support people living with hepatitis B in Australia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They were asked to consider a number of questions, including:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n