Access to healthcare is very limited, particularly in rural areas where the nearest provision is hours away, particularly if you are poor and cannot afford treatment, and particularly if you are a Dalit and access is restricted by discrimination.

[consequences]

Limited access to healthcare can often result in modern slavery. It is not uncommon to find poor families forced to borrow money to pay for medicine, only to find that the interest on the loan is prohibitive and the only way to pay it back is to be bonded as a labourer to the lender, who more often than not is a landowner or factory boss. The family now finds themselves trapped in bonded labour, or forced to in effect sell one of their children to the landowner or factory boss to work for them until the debt is cleared – which it rarely is. Each time they need medicine, they go even further into debt.

Women and girls trafficked into brothels are particularly susceptible to HIV/AIDS. They avoid testing, even when free, because of the stigma of the disease, and because they cannot afford the treatment. As their health deteriorates they become less useful to the brothel madam or their pimp, and many are left on the scrapheap to die painfully and alone.

[healthcare provision]

DFN aims to make healthcare more accessible where it is most needed. We do this through five clinics (including two mobile clinics), fifty community health care workers linked to our Dalit Education Centres, short-term medical camps visiting remote areas, and through health education and prevention initiatives¹. Plans are in place to develop small hospitals and nurse training centres.

A key element to our anti-trafficking programme is the HIV/AIDS clinic providing education, diagnosis, treatment and counselling to women and girls trapped in ritualised prostitution. Staff must build the necessary trust and confidence before women respond to their health education messages, take advantage of the free testing, the local provision of treatment, and the counselling necessary to develop a positive mindset. Nutrition plays a key part in maintaining a strong immune system to help fight disease.

[prevention]

Prevention is also the key for our new nutrition programme for children. Almost 43% of under 5s in India are malnourished (compared to 29% in Sub-Saharan Africa). In our own schools up to 40% are undernourished, which makes them more susceptible to illness – and so more vulnerable to bonded labour – absence from school and unable to concentrate when in class. Already 20 schools have their own cafeteria, and another 50 will have by the end of 2010 to provide a free nutritious meal for pupils.

[help them help themselves]

You can help us to provide much needed healthcare and nutrition to combat trafficking and slavery by donating to our ‘Help Them Help Themselves’ fund. [Find out more...]