Prof Stuart Kinner, Head, Justice Health Unit (JHU), University of Melbourne and MCRI and Dr Jesse Young, JHU Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, have collaborated with A/Prof Tyler Winkelman and Dr Kayla Dasrath on the paper Universal health coverage and incarceration, recently published in Lancet Public Health, and available here.

The authors analysed global progress towards reaching the World Health Organization (WHO) goals in the provision of universal health coverage. They found that many countries, including Australia, do not count people in prisons and youth detention in their data despite the significant concentration of health needs in these settings.

The effect of excluding people in prisons from universal health coverage data might result in overestimation of progress and mask important health inequalities in that people in prison and youth detention are some of the most marginalised and unwell people in our communities.

The paper calls on WHO to include people in custody settings in their assessment of healthcare coverage so that we can work towards greater equality in access to healthcare, both in Australia and globally.

Congratulations to Stuart, Jesse and our international collaborators on this major publication.