Challenges to comprehensive health care and emancipation of enslaved workers

Abstract

Introduction: contemporary forms of slave labour have different impacts on occupational health, requiring new and emancipatory care practices. Objective: to analyze the theoretical and practical dimensions of the health-disease-care process and workers’ emancipation in a context of enslavement. Methods: this essay problematizes theoretical and conceptual aspects of the health-work-slavery relationship, emphasizing the importance of broadening the concept of worker beyond wage-earning relations. Results: the article presents a critical review of Brazilian experiences in supporting the emancipation of enslaved workers and a critical reading of the ‘National Flow of Assistance to Victims of Slave Labor,’ highlighting the pressing challenge of developing new health care routes and the role of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and of the workers’ health, especially for post-rescue moments, to overcome the risk of re-enslavement and reduce social vulnerabilities. Conclusion: the continuous struggle to expand and strengthen emancipatory strategies requires the leadership and organisation of workers, connecting unions, social, gender and racial struggles as struggles for freedom and dignity. Fights for health that promote the construction of territories free from slave labor, containing a set of actions to ensure basic conditions for a dignified life and the exercise of freedom.