A mobile clinic for sex-trafficked youth opens in Oakland

"Some of these young people avoid hospitals or traditional medical centers due to discrimination from health care staff, feelings of shame, fears of retaliation from traffickers, and other barriers, according to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing. As a result, they lack equitable access to medical and reproductive health care. One Oakland nonprofit is working to tear down these barriers by bringing medical services directly to the streets."

"In January, Dream Youth Clinic launched a mobile clinic at the intersection of International Boulevard and 15th Avenue, serving sex-trafficked youth ages 13 to 25 and other people who show up seeking care. On Tuesdays and Fridays, the clinic offers rapid HIV testing, COVID testing, pregnancy testing, over-the-counter birth control pills, internal and external condoms, menstrual products, fentanyl test kits, and naloxone - all at no cost."

"While the mobile clinic is new, Dream Youth Clinic's wellness center in the Jack London District has long provided free reproductive health care and wraparound services to some of the community's most vulnerable populations, including sex-trafficked youth, people in the juvenile justice system, foster youth, and LGBTQ+ people. The nonprofit offers primary care, mental health services, case management, and refe"

Young women along International Boulevard in East Oakland, including children, are being commercially exploited or trafficked for sex. Many of these young people avoid hospitals and traditional medical centers because of discrimination from health care staff, shame, fears of trafficker retaliation, and other barriers, producing inequitable access to medical and reproductive health care. Dream Youth Clinic launched a mobile clinic at International Boulevard and 15th Avenue serving sex-trafficked youth ages 13 to 25 and others, offering free rapid HIV, COVID, and pregnancy tests, contraception, condoms, menstrual products, fentanyl test kits, and naloxone. The effort partners with CAL-PEP and complements a longstanding wellness center providing primary care, mental health services, case management, and wraparound support to vulnerable populations.

Read at The Oaklandside