The Intersection of Human Trafficking and Health Care

Human trafficking (HT) is a global humanitarian and public health crisis. It is a crime that is happening in plain sight with its victims walking among us. Sadly, HT goes grossly undetected because of a lack of understanding, misperceptions, and lack of knowledge about its identification. Although addressed on social media, news outlets, and portrayed in Hollywood films, HT’s reality is often quite different from the sensationalized ways (chains and ropes, abductions by ‘white vans’) in which it is depicted. Victims of HT are frequently held captive through psychological restraints and coercive manipulation rather than overt force, even as they endure egregious acts of abuse that result in levels of trauma equivalent to that of war veterans.

Photo by Rae Angela on Unsplash

Sparing no age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, or geographic location, HT infiltrates all nations and facets of life. It is a financially motivated crime, globally yielding approximately $350 billion dollars annually, an enormous profit that is tax-free and generated off the sale of human cargo.

Human trafficking defined

HT, also known as modern slavery, is a crime against a person for labor or services which compels that individual through use of force, fraud, or coercion. It is the exploitation of […]

2025-03-24T09:58:13-04:00March 24th, 2025|Nursing, Patients, women's health|0 Comments
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How Can Nurses Identify and Assist Human Trafficking Victims?

Wikimedia Commons/ AlvaroGzP

What do sex workers have in common with nannies, housekeepers, farmworkers, janitorial and restaurant staff, and factory and construction workers? They all work in settings where victims of human trafficking are commonly found.

Human trafficking is big business in the United States.

Our country is reported to be the second-largest market globally for women and children trafficked into sex work. Sex trafficking is the main form of trafficking among U.S. citizens, while forced labor trafficking is more common among foreign nationals living here.

Globally, human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking among criminal industries. Because nurses are “everywhere,” we are very likely to come into contact with human trafficking victims at some point. Would you know how to recognize one?

Possible indicators of human trafficking.

In a 2011 AJN article, Donna Sabella shares several possible indicators of human trafficking that warrant further investigation, including:

2018-12-13T08:10:08-05:00December 13th, 2018|Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
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Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the U.S.: An IOM Report

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKh78vXIfis&w=640&h=360]
By Natalie McClain, PhD, RN, CPNP, clinical associate professor, William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, and Barbara Guthrie, PhD, RN, FAAN, Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing, Yale University School of Nursing. The above educational video was created by the Institute of Medicine and is available on YouTube.

Each day in the United States, minors experience abuse and violence that is overlooked and unidentified. In some cases, recognition of the abuse makes these minors subject to arrest rather than assistance and care. These children and adolescents are the victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. A recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council sheds light on this serious domestic problem and underscores the critical role that nurses must play in preventing, identifying, and responding to these crimes.

Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States is the culmination of a two-year study conducted by an independent panel of experts appointed by the National Academies of Science and funded by the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The report states that commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors are acts of abuse and violence against children and adolescents. However, the response to these victims is often starkly different from that experienced by other victims of child abuse and neglect. In most states, for example, underage victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking can be arrested and prosecuted.

Long-term […]

2016-11-21T13:05:56-05:00December 2nd, 2013|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Kudos to Indy for Tightening Human Trafficking Laws Before the Super Bowl

According to Stateline.org (a news site of the nonprofit Pew Center on the States), with the Super Bowl taking place this Sunday in Indianapolis, the state of Indiana has decided to toughen up its human trafficking laws.

“Though it is an honor for Indiana to host the Super Bowl, many sincere voices have brought to light the fact that human trafficking is a shameful practice we can’t ignore,” Indiana attorney general Greg Zoeller said in a statement.

The article notes that sex trafficking during highly publicized events has become an issue for many states with hosting duties. While the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, an international advocacy group, claims that the estimates of trafficking cases at previous Super Bowls may have been too high, whether there are 60,000 or six in a given year, any number over zero is too many.

For more info, see our award-winning article on the nurse’s role in combating human trafficking, by Donna Sabella. She also talks about her work in a podcast.—by Demaris Bailey
 
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2016-11-21T13:10:48-05:00February 3rd, 2012|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Saving ‘Mimi’: How Nurses Can Combat Human Trafficking in the USA

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Picture this: “Mimi,” an 18-year-old Brazilian girl who speaks little English, arrives in your ED with injuries sustained in a beating. She’s accompanied by an older man who refuses to leave her side and who intercepts and answers questions directed at Mimi. The ED physicians and nurses treat Mimi’s injuries and release her back to this man’s care. Maybe you feel uneasy, but what can you do? Maybe the man really is her uncle; maybe he’s just being overprotective.

In fact, Mimi is a victim of human trafficking, and the man who brought her to the hospital is both her pimp and her trafficker. And you and your colleagues just missed a chance to intervene on her behalf. Unfortunately, you’re not alone. In “The Role of the Nurse in Combating Human Trafficking,” a February CE feature, author Donna Sabella notes that clinicians who encounter victims of human trafficking often don’t realize it, and many such chances to intervene are lost. Sabella, a nursing professor active in helping such victims, hopes to change this. […]

2016-11-21T13:14:09-05:00February 1st, 2011|students|1 Comment
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