HIV and the law
Obtaining legal advice
The HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) produces a number of guides to HIV and the law. However, please note that the information in the Guides is not a substitute for legal advice. Please contact HALC for advice if you have a specific legal problem.
Understanding the legal needs of people with HIV
NAPWHA is proud to be a partner in the UTS Health+Law initiative, announced in October 2022. Health+Law is a research partnership to identify and eliminate legal barriers to testing and treatment for people living with Hepatitis B or HIV.
Health+Law is led by UTS Faculty of Law and a consortium of health, community, and legal sector organisations: the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre (HALC), the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM), the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPHWA), and Hepatitis Australia.
The partnership also draws on the expertise of HIV- and hepatitis-related community organisations from across Australia, and people with lived experience of blood-borne viruses.
Health+Law will have four principal activities, to be delivered over four consecutive years – 2022-2026:
1. National assessment of enabling legal environment and barriers to testing and treatment: a national survey of people living with HIV or Hepatitis B; in-depth interviews with culturally diverse and Medicareineligible priority groups; and technical legal analysis, to create Australia’s first evidence-base of legal barriers and enablers to better health outcomes.
2. Understanding the different impacts of legal barriers: an analysis of relative impacts on testing and treatment, quality of life, and health service delivery, to understand priorities for legal support and services, and law and policy reform.
3. Development of STI- and Blood-Borne Virus-specific 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.
4. 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 nationwide capability for identifying and eliminating legal barriers to testing and treatment.
