Target Audience

DMU faculty, staff, students, residents, and the medical community.

Educational Need

Human trafficking is a crime where one person exploits another for labor, services, or commercial sex, using force, fraud, or coercion (or where the person induced is under 18 years of age, in the case of a commercial sex act under U.S. law).

The crime also includes the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a human being for these purposes and in these ways. Human trafficking is included under the umbrella term ‘modern-day slavery,’ where victims cannot leave a situation of exploitation and are controlled by threats, punishment, violence, coercion, or deception.

Human trafficking does not require the transportation of individuals across state lines or that someone is physically restrained. Signs that a person is being trafficked can include working excessively long hours, unexplained gifts, physical injury, substance abuse, running away from home, isolation from others, or being controlled or closely monitored by another. Like most crimes, human trafficking may be hidden from public view, and it can be challenging to determine the incidence and prevalence of the crime.

Human Trafficking Facts

• From January through October 2023, the Iowa Office to Combat Human Trafficking documented 71 human trafficking tips and leads, with 58 of those received from law enforcement field encounters, the Crime Stoppers tip line, and the stophtiowa.org website. The remaining 13 were received from the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH).
• $245 billion is made each year from human trafficking; that’s over $7,500 every second.
• Women and girls make up 54% of all victims worldwide and are 78% of victims of forced commercial sexual exploitation.
• Many U.S. businesses have human trafficking in their supply chains without even knowing it.
• Victims are told that police are corrupt and that seeking help leads to being deported.
• In 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 10,360 reports of suspected human trafficking cases involving 16,710 victims.
• Traffickers make threats against victims’ families, using fear and shame as weapons.
• 1 in 6 endangered runaways reported are likely to be sex trafficking victims.
• Human trafficking and people smuggling are different things.

Types of Exploitation

• Sexual exploitation
• Forced labor
• Domestic servitude
• Criminal exploitation
• Forced marriage

Objectives

1. Define human trafficking.
2. Identify the diverse contexts and locations in which human trafficking exists.
3. Recognize indicators of human trafficking within healthcare settings.
4. Implement appropriate protocols for the compassionate care and support of trafficking survivors. 
5. Describe effective strategies for collaborating between healthcare professionals and law enforcement agencies to identify, report, and respond to human trafficking cases.

Speakers

Renate Bassford
Survivor of Human Trafficking 

David Gonzalez
Senior Investigator, Midwest Region, Hope for Justice US

Session proposals are now being accepted for the DMU Grand Rounds series! Have you encountered an interesting clinical case, seen a patient with a unique history, condition, and/or treatment protocol, or been involved with interprofessional management that improves patient care and treatment outcomes? If so, you're invited to help build the series by submitting a session proposal! In addition to the rare and unique, cases of more common conditions are also acceptable, and proposals from external members of the broader healthcare community are welcomed and encouraged. Please click the button below to learn more about the series and access the submission form.