Health+Law Wins LiverWELL Organisational Collaboration Award
Health+Law’s Daniel Storer and Tepy Hoeung at the LiverWELL Awards in Naarm.
Each year, LiverWELL recognises individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of people living with viral hepatitis and liver disease. LiverWELL is Victoria’s peak organisation championing the interests of people affected by or at risk of viral hepatitis and liver disease. The Health+Law team were deeply honoured to be named as a co-winner of this year’s Organisational Collaboration Recognition Award at this year’s LiverWELL awards, which were held in Naarm/Melbourne in October.
The Organisational Collaboration Recognition Award celebrates organisations that have made a significant contribution to the wellbeing of people living with chronic hepatitis and recognises teams that have worked collaboratively with LiverWELL in innovative and effective ways to achieve this. Nominations are reviewed by an independent panel and endorsed by the LiverWELL Board.
LiverWELL particularly recognised Health+Law's contribution to a resource supporting migrants and non-citizens living with hepatitis B, called the Hepatitis B Visa and Migration FAQ. The FAQ was produced by members of LiverWELL’s health promotion team Tepy Hoeung and Alain Palines, in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Hepatitis B Voices Australia, and Health+Law team members David Carter and Rhys Evans. The FAQ aims to demystify the migration process and provide clear, reliable and up-to-date information for people affected by hepatitis B, their families and communities, and the peers and professionals who support them. It was designed to make essential legal and procedural knowledge accessible to those navigating Australia’s migration system while living with hepatitis B.
LiverWELL commended Health+Law’s ‘outstanding work supporting people affected by blood-borne viruses’ and noted that the Hepatitis B and Migration FAQ has become one of their most accessed website resources, helping affected people understand their rights, how to access health care, and how to engage with the migration processes more confidently: ‘their partnership has made a real impact, especially for vulnerable migrants.’
We’re deeply grateful to Tepy Hoeung and the LiverWELL team for this recognition, and to our partners and community collaborators who shaped the resource from the start, including Professor Benjamin Cowie, Jennifer MacLachlan, Mielle Abbott, and Hepatitis B Voices Australia who were all integral in the development of the FAQ and with whom we share this honour.
The award is a tribute to what can be achieved when law, public health and lived experience come together to remove barriers – turning research, legal insight and community experience into practical guidance. As we celebrate this achievement, we also look forward to continuing the collaborations that drive practical change and ensure equitable health outcomes for all.
Read more about the Hepatitis B Visa and Migration FAQ on our blog here and access the FAQ on LiverWELL’s website here. Thank you, LiverWELL!