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Human trafficking remains one of Romania’s most significant social and public health challenges, yet healthcare settings continue to underperform as sites of identification, protection, and support for victims and survivors. Drawing on empirical findings from a national study conducted by eLiberare and partners, this article examines the intersections between healthcare and social work in responding to trafficking. Using qualitative data from twelve semi-structured interviews with trafficking survivors and healthcare professionals, it explores how interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration can advance equity and inclusion within clinical and social protection systems. The findings reveal a healthcare landscape marked by structural barriers, compromised patient autonomy, stigma, insufficient training, and fragmented institutional coordination, all of which undermine safe disclosure and continuity of care. Survivors’ accounts expose the cumulative harms of inaccessible services, judgmental attitudes, and breaches of confidentiality, while practitioners highlight role ambiguity, lack of protocols, and limited social work availability. Despite these challenges, the study identifies promising directions for reform, including survivor-informed training, trauma-informed practice, referral protocols, multidisciplinary response teams, and stronger partnerships between healthcare, social services, and NGOs. By situating healthcare within a broader ecosystem of social protection, the article argues that equitable and inclusive anti-trafficking responses require collaborative models that move beyond relational practice towards more procedural compliance, contextually grounded, and survivor-centred care.
Keywords: human trafficking, healthcare responses, intersectoral collaboration, social work, survivor-centred care
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