Health workers are in a unique position to help identify human trafficking

Human trafficking is a lucrative crime and a serious human rights violation. Conflicts increase the number of people exploited in trafficking within and outside crises areas. The war in Ukraine is likely to have considerably heightened the risk of trafficking for thousands of vulnerable people, according to the latest global report on trafficking in persons published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in January 2023.1Against this backdrop, a scoping review from the WHO Regional Office for Europe2 calls for substantial investment to increase health systems’ capacities and help sensitise health workers to trafficking. Health systems and health workers are in many ways uniquely situated to identify, treat, and protect trafficked persons and those at risk of being trafficked.Front line health workers are often the only public sector employees to meet trafficked persons during their ordeal. Data on how many trafficked persons remain unidentified when seeking health services…
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