An Intersectional Approach to Hepatitis B

Christopher Lemoh (), Yinzong Xiao, Lien Tran, Nafisa Yussf, Piergiorgio Moro, Sophie Dutertre and Jack Wallace
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Christopher Lemoh: Department of Medicine, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Yinzong Xiao: Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia
Lien Tran: Department of Medicine, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Nafisa Yussf: WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Piergiorgio Moro: Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, North Richmond Community Health, Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia
Sophie Dutertre: Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, North Richmond Community Health, Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia
Jack Wallace: Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: Hepatitis B is a chronic condition, primarily associated with hepatitis B viral infection in early life. The failure of prevention and appropriate management can lead to subsequent liver cirrhosis and cancer. Hepatitis B most commonly affects people born in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and their global diasporas. The physical, psychological, and social impacts of hepatitis B are strongly influenced by sex and gender. Inequities in access to timely, sensitive diagnosis and effective management arise from interactions between structural inequalities related to race, ethnicity, Indigenous/settler status, class, and geography. The biomedical response to hepatitis B has led to advances in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, but many affected communities have explanatory health belief models that differ from that of biomedicine. We argue that an intersectional approach, led by affected people and communities, can integrate biomedicine with the lived experience and social context that give purpose to and shape all personal, communal, clinical, and public health responses to hepatitis B. This approach has the potential to enable a consciously equitable, effective response to the biopsychosocial complexities of hepatitis B, improve the health and wellbeing of people living with hepatitis B, and reduce hepatitis B-associated mortality.

Keywords: hepatitis B; intersectionality; migrant health; refugee health; settler-colonialism; social epidemiology; social determinants of health; fundamental causes of disease; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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