Professor Dame Hazel Genn, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at UCL Laws and Director of the UCL Centre for Access to Justice, delivered a session at the World Justice Forum entitled ‘Improving Public Health and Reducing the Justice Gap Through Health Justice Partnerships’.
This session discussed the international development of integrated social welfare legal services and health services to address health-harming legal needs. Professor Genn also explored the benefits of Medical-Legal partnerships, and the range of models for integrating health and legal services.
The session is highly topical, due to the growing evidence around the links between health and legal needs, which demonstrates that social problems with a legal dimension can exacerbate ill health; and that ill-health can create legal problems.
The workshop was attended by both health and legal professionals, which led to interesting and constructive discussions on how to promote greater integration of health and legal services to improve public health; and reduce the justice gap for low income families and vulnerable individuals.