HHR Board Member Michael Kirby Delivers Two Lectures on HIV/AIDS and the Right to Health

In an August 11 article in The Age Elizabeth Brumby (@LizBrumby) outlines two lectures on health and human rights from the Honorable Michael Kirby, a former justice of the High Court of Australia and a member of the Health and Human Rights editorial board. In the first – the Jonathan Mann memorial lecture at the 20^th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne – Kirby discussed the negative effects of punitive laws on people living with HIV and AIDS, stressing that “law and policy must be made part of the solution and not part of the problem for AIDS.” The second lecture, a public event at the University of Melbourne, focused on how “the law affects the spread of HIV/AIDS by marginalizing vulnerable groups.” Brumby notes that Kirby also highlighted the need to change international intellectual property law to ensure that those living with HIV/AIDS can access medicines.

Full article here: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/voice/global-health-human-rights-and-hiv-and-aids-20140806-3d8cd.html#ixzz3AOwuBG4x

Recent HHR articles on HIV/AIDS, legal rights, and access to medicines:

Atmospheric Pressure: Russian drug policy as a driver for violations of the UN Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Using a reporting system to protect the human rights of people living with HIV and key populations: A conceptual framework

Respecting the right to access to medicines: Implications of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for the pharmaceutical industry

Between the court and the clinic: Lawsuits for medicines and the right to health in Brazil