Healthcare provider Digital Hospital has tied up with the Ashshash project – supported by Switzerland and implemented by Winrock International in Bangladesh.

The project is dedicated to rehabilitating men and women who have escaped trafficking, and Digital Hospital is now providing them with various digital healthcare services and still onboarding new members.

By the end of the project in 2022, Ashshash envisions helping a large group of men and women, who have escaped trafficking, in various ways including, affordable and quality health services for its beneficiaries.

The health services will be provided in collaboration with its social protection partners such as Caritas, Agrogoti Sangstha, Centre for Women and Children Studies, and Dhaka Ahsania Mission.

After repatriation and rescue, men and women who have escaped trafficking may suffer from a range of physical problems due to inhumane living conditions, poor sanitation, inadequate nutrition and poor personal hygiene, brutal physical and emotional abuse, dangerous workplace conditions and general lack of quality medical care.

Also, trafficked women frequently face an additional challenge of social stigma against them.

So, Ashshash provides need-based and trauma-informed psychosocial counselling to men and women who have escaped trafficking to assist them in rebuilding their sense of self, recognising their vulnerability, and strengthening their resilience.

Andrew Smith, CCO and Co-founder of Digital Hospital, said: "Most people who escape trafficking experience psychological, emotional, and physical trauma. They also have difficulties reintegrating into their families and communities – a key element of healthy and productive lives – due to social stigma."

"Ashshash works to deliver counselling, legal services and economic empowerment support to these men and women and now Digital Hospital has joined them to provide the much-needed healthcare services victims of human trafficking need but oftentimes are unable to get due to cost and inaccessibility."

The project is now being implemented in the five most trafficking prone districts – Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Khulna, Satkhira, and Jashore.