Beyond Undetectable Symposium (focus on achieving health equity for all people at risk of, or living with, HIV)

Your meeng is of course not just about the importance of reducing viral load, but also about overall quality of life – and this is relevant to our work at Lowitja Instute -- in pursuit of a healthcare system that supports wellbeing and equity -- not just the detecon of disease. [...] The word ‘undetectable’ speaks to me of communies and issues that are not on the agenda – of that are so-called “hard to reach”. [...] Yet sll it raises many quesons for me … even once we’ve provided the extra steps … and removed the fence… Who is actually on the playing field? Who isn’t? Who is umpiring? Who establishes, governs, and then monitors -- the club rules? And of course, because – as you all know well -- interseconality is at the heart of these discussions: where is the diversity?! Just to step into the concepts of equ. [...] I’m sure some of you here today have been involved with them! In New South Wales, it’s wonderful to see how Posive Life organisaon co-designed the Health and Needs Assessment for our mob living with --- or at risk of --- HIV: This was done in partnership with the Posive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Network and BlaQ, And naonally we saw Health Equity Maters publish “Us Mob and HIV” in part. [...] And I hope what has resonated with you today is the cruelty of silence – the torment of powerlessness: the harm that comes from not being heard… from the cries of a woman in abject pain in her prison cell… to the poorer policies and services we endure, because we are not sing at the policy table, where people believe they know what’s best for us.