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b"This session reports on focus groups conducted with 107 domestic victims of sex trafficking in which they discussed the health problems they experienced during trafficking. In addition, the session examines victims' interactions with various types of healthcare providers. The focus groups revealed that nearly all victims experienced physical and mental health problems while being trafficked, including serious communicable and other diseases, injuries resulting from violence, substance abuse, and reproductive health issues. The session summarizes data about the health problems reported by sex trafficking survivors to present a fuller picture of the health consequences that victims suffer. A majority of survivors sought healthcare at some point during the time they were trafficked. The session reports on the contact victims had with health care providers including hospital emergency wards, urgent care clinics, neighborhood clinics, women's clinics, Planned Parenthood clinics, and general practitioners. Many providers were unaware of the fact that they were treating a trafficking victim, and unaware of the force, fraud, and coercion involved in trafficking. The session discusses common physical and mental health symptoms and other warning signs that can assist medical professionals in recognizing possible trafficking victims. It also makes policy and program recommendations for medical care providers to enhance their roles as identifiers of trafficking victims. These recommendations include suggestions for interviewing possible victims and methods for helping victims obtain broader assistance, including criminal justice assistance where warranted. Other recommendations include mandatory training about trafficking in persons for healthcare providers, mandatory posting of the national trafficking hotline phone number and specialized resources to make available to victims."