New Impact Story: Hepatitis Australia’s Lucy Clynes Reflects on Evidence, Advocacy and the Health+Law Partnership

‘Before this project there was no measurement of the socio-legal impact of living with hepatitis B’.

For Lucy Clynes, CEO of Hepatitis Australia and partner investigator in the Health+Law research partnership, a large part of the significance of this work begins with the enormous gap in knowledge about the social, structural, lived experiences of people living with hepatitis B – including the legal issues they face.

‘This is the first time ever in Australia,’ Lucy says. ‘Nobody else is doing this work of actually measuring and articulating the legal impacts on people living with hepatitis B and understanding how much of a barrier to their care and treatment this stigma and legal discrimination can be.’

For a health condition that is so prevalent and yet, as Lucy points out, ‘neglected’ and historically underfunded relative to its prevalence, the ability to document these experiences is a powerful shift. It has provided evidence for something community organisations, peers and affected people have known about for a long time: legal and social barriers have profound effects on people living with hepatitis B, including whether they seek and can access the most basic, guideline-recommended health care and monitoring.

Lucy’s reflections are part of a new series of ‘Impact Stories’ exploring how Health+Law research and partnerships are making a difference for people living with blood-borne viruses, and for the communities and sectors that support them. Told from the perspectives of collaborators and sector partners working across BBV-responsive law, health, advocacy and community services, these stories explore what research impact looks like in practice – from strengthening advocacy efforts, to developing practical resources and training, to building on the formidable, existing capacity and creativity of peers and professionals across the sector in really targeted and important ways.

Our first Impact Story, launched to coincide with World Hepatitis Day 2026, features Lucy reflecting specifically on Hepatitis Australia’s partnership with Health+Law and the impact of the first national Legal Needs Study (LeNS). Among other things, she describes how evidence from LeNS has supported Hepatitis Australia in advocacy efforts with government, contributed to new community resources, supported the upskilling of lawyers and migration agents, and developed ‘legal first aid’ training for peer and community workers.

‘The work we do with Health+Law has been quite transformative, I think, in the national response to the needs of people with hepatitis B,’ Lucy reflects. ‘I think there’s more to come from this.’

Five more impact stories will be appearing on our website in the coming weeks.

Read the full Impact Story with Lucy and Hepatitis Australia here