Human trafficking is today’s modern form of slavery and the second largest criminal activity in the world. Trafficking typically originates in disadvantaged areas with high levels of poverty, lack of opportunities and high crime rates but can also exist in communities of any socioeconomic class. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes about identifying victims of human trafficking among US pharmacy students.

This was a cross-sectional study. A survey was distributed amongst first, second, and third year pharmacy school students in a private university in the US. The questionnaire comprised of 17 questions that was divided into four components: general questions about human trafficking (7), types of human trafficking (4), human trafficking and health (5), and attitude about human trafficking (1). Descriptive analyses were conducted using SPSS version 21.

A total of 219 pharmacy school students participated in the survey. 69.4% participants were females and 30.6% participants were males. Study participants had poor knowledge about the age group (13.24%), race (2.28%), and warning signs (14.16%) of victims of human trafficking respectively. Only 7.31% of participants had accurate knowledge about the disease conditions associated with human trafficking. Approximately 77% participants agreed that 911 should be called upon encountering a human trfficking victim in the pharmacy. 53% participants felt that upon encountering a human trafficking victim, they would inquire about the availability of a friend for emotional support.

Pharmacy students had a positive attitude about treating victims of human trafficking, even though they had poor knowledge about victims of human trafficking. This study stresses the need for implementing education about human trafficking in the pharmacy curricula to raise awareness about this serious issue, both in the US and across the globe.