Attorney General Derek Schmidt today announced a new partnership with the Kansas Hospital Association to create an online toolkit for increased awareness within the health care community of human trafficking.

 

The goal of the partnership, as described by Schmidt in a press release sent out Thursday, is to provide "practical and effective tools to help all health care providers identify, interact and intervene in situations where human trafficking is suspected".

 

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world. Statistics cited by Schmidt show that 88 percent of sex trafficking victims said they had contact with a medical provider while they were being trafficked.

 

The toolkit was developed over several months through collaboration between the Kansas Hospital Association and Schmidt's office. Resources include research-based approaches to providing patient care, screening methodology and models for hospitals to develop policies and procedures for assisting human trafficking victims. The toolkit can be accessed at this link.