The ordeal of Nigerians and other Africans caught in the web of the new slave trade in Libya has continued to send shock waves across the world. There have been reports of Africans, who try to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya, being captured, enslaved or sold and resold for upwards of $400 with many of them dying in the process.
The Federal Government recently revealed that it had so far identified 2,778 Nigerians trapped in Libyan detention camps. Of this figure, 250 would be repatriated every week. So far, the government said 3,000 have returned from the Libyan enclave. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Tiwatope Elias-Fatiile, said in a statement that the 2,778 Nigerians were identified in detention camps that embassy officials had been visiting.
Slavery can be said to be a profoundly oppressive, destabilising, and deeply exploitative social system and a toxic method of utilising human labour. Slavery has its negative outcomes and enduring health problems in all of its geopolitical and historical contexts.
Breaking down core elements of enslavement process and the oppressive governance and exploitation of slave life and labour highlights how the system relentlessly undermined the physical, psychological, and emotional health of victims. However, medical experts have warned that if these returnees are not given the optimum health care, they tend to risk various life-threatening ailments.
Enslaved people’s health are vulnerable due to the use and constant threat of violent punishment, dangerous and debilitating occupations, as well as the environment they are exposed to
A United Kingdom-based cardiologist, Dr. Femi Ake Thomas, notes that biological, environmental and socio-economic factors of the act of slavery and subjugation of people naturally affect their health, making them susceptible to conditions like hypertension, stroke and in the case of their children, infant mortality.
According to Thomas, who works with the St. Andrews Hospital, Dublin, “When people are coerced or forced into labour and slavery, they tend to experience poor living conditions at the hands of their detainees, thereby leading to higher levels of morbidity and with less access to health care. Due to constant detention, their blood pressure tend to rise and because their children cannot withstand the harsh conditions of living, they die young.
“One of the most dangerous aspects of hypertension is that you may not know that you have it. Several people who have high blood pressure don’t know it. The only way to know if your blood pressure is high is through regular checkups, which these slaves are deprived.”
He adds that a person whose blood pressure is extremely high, may experience certain symptoms such as severe headache, fatigue or confusion, vision problems, at times, chest pain or difficulty in breathing and irregular heartbeat as well as blood in the urine.
“All these symptoms, if unchecked over time, can cause health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke,” Thomas said.
Another medical practitioner at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Dr. Dike Onoriode, notes that apart from the biological, socio-economic and environmental conditions that may affect the well-being of the detainees, negative dietary conditions also play a major role in putting their lives at risk.
He argues that the initial acts of capture, incarceration, human commodification, and forced transportation will give them a weakened health, thereby making them unable to feed and digest
food well.
Onoriode says, “Enslaved people’s health are vulnerable due to the use and constant threat of violent punishment, dangerous and debilitating occupations, as well as the environment they are exposed to. The poor housing, sanitation and inadequate food, water, and clothing also put these people at the risk of a range of debilitating heart diseases.
“Even, their forcible separation from their family members and being held in captivity under constant surveillance, with labour coerced and closely supervised, indeed, will make their health constantly threatened by the rigid regulation of all aspects of their daily
life.”
He, however, advised government, health professionals and policy makers to consider a proper range of continuous medical care and constant attention in an effort to fully evaluate and improve the health status of this group of citizens.
