Sex trafficking needs more awareness
Published in The
Washington Times, March 13, 2013
Former sex trafficking victim Barbara Amaya highlights the
need to “educate the public about the horrors of human trafficking or modern
day slavery” (“Sex
trafficking: Has anything changed in 45 years?” Web, March 9).
While federal government agencies including State, Homeland
Security and Health and Human Services have all impressively ramped up efforts
to educate the public and law enforcement communities, there remains a critical
need to focus in depth on medical professionals who see but fail to recognize
and report many human trafficking victims. One medical study of victims
interviewed after rescue found that up to half had been taken to a medical
facility, yet not a single victim had been reported for rescue.[1]
One solution is to invite leaders of America’s medical
specialty colleges to a White House symposium on human trafficking and to
challenge them to adapt existing awareness building resources and data in order
to educate their own members on how to recognize, report and treat victims.
For example, the Christian Medical Association now offers an in-depth
online curriculum, with continuing medical education credit, to train
healthcare professionals how to recognize, report and treat human trafficking
victims (available at www.cmda.org/tip). If other medical specialty
organizations do likewise, hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals
can learn how to recognize, rescue and rehabilitate thousands of victims who
otherwise would languish in slavery.
JONATHAN IMBODY
Vice president for government relations
Christian Medical Association
Washington
[1] Baldwin,
et. al., “Identification of human trafficking victims in health care settings,”
Health and Human Rights, July 2011
Vol. 13, No. 1.
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