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Abstract

Purpose: to provide commentary of two review articles that discuss the role of medical professionals in combating human trafficking: “Health Care Providers' Training Needs Related to Human Trafficking: Maximizing the Opportunity to Effectively Screen and Intervene” by Isaac, Solak, and Giardino, and “Human Trafficking: What is the Role of the Health Care Provider?” by Crane and Moreno.

Findings: Both articles provide a good introduction and explanation of the psychosocial and medical issues faced by many trafficking victims; however, they succeed only to varying degrees in describing all the gaps in the medical system and the vital next steps forward.

Conclusion: The key next steps in the fight against human trafficking include: multidisciplinary teams need to improve coordination on all forms of human maltreatment; schools for all medical professions and social work need to significantly strengthen their curriculum on diagnosing and treating human maltreatment; and groups that provide training on human trafficking should partner with other agencies and organizations that provide training on child maltreatment and domestic violence.

Author Biography

Dr. Aaron J. Miller is Director of the Lincoln Child Advocacy Center at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. The Lincoln Child Advocacy Center is a multidisciplinary team which works closely with child protective services, police and prosecutors to provide diagnosis and treatment of all forms of child maltreatment. Dr. Miller is board-certified in Pediatrics and in Child Abuse Pediatrics, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College, and is an active member of the New York City Mayor’s Task Force on Child Welfare and Safety and the Bronx Multidisciplinary Team on Child Abuse. Dr. Miller and his team are also working with the Malawi government and UNICEF to help create the country’s first-ever one-stop centers for child abuse.

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