Modern-day Slavery in our Health Care System: An Advocacy Journey

Author: Panda, Preeti & Garg, Anjali

Abstract: The following is the winning submission from the third annual Section on Pediatric Trainees essay competition. This year’s competition was informed by the 2018–2019 Section on Pediatric Trainees Advocacy Campaign: Advocacy Adventure, which empowered trainees to find their areas of passion, acquire and polish new skills, and organize advocacy efforts collaboratively. We asked writers to share experiences as physician advocates and were impressed with the broad variety of important topics submitted by trainees from around the country. This essay by Drs Panda and Garg highlights a critical issue facing children, human trafficking, and shares their innovative and sustainable survivor-informed training for pediatric trainees. Along with the runner-up submission by Dr Ju, which also appears in this issue, this piece is a wonderfully inspiring reminder that we are all well positioned to advocate for children in our roles as trainees and pediatricians.

Keywords: advocacy, health care systems, human trafficking, survivors, partnerships