Bringing healthcare to the UK's abused domestic workers.

In an anonymous office building near Holborn underground station, some of London’s most vulnerable residents meet every Sunday—for many, their only day off work. The group Justice for Domestic Workers (www.j4dw.com) campaigns for the rights of the roughly 16 000 foreign maids, nannies, and housekeepers in the United Kingdom. It has more than 1000 members. Predominantly women aged 25-65, from countries as disparate as the Philippines, Nigeria, and India, they work in wealthy households, including for foreign royalty, diplomats, and British military officers, Marissa Begonia, a housekeeper and the group’s coordinator, told The BMJ. Some are pregnant or have young children. The isolation of domestic workmakes physical and sexual abuse common. But foreign workers can be wary about coming forward and having to prove ill treatment because they risk deportation. UK law changed in 2012 to tie working visas to a single employer: now if employees quit they could breach immigration rules, and they risk becoming undocumented. Unscrupulous employers take advantage of this. “Do we need to be raped and beaten and starved to get protection?” asked Begonia. “The system legalises the abuse.” The group provides its members with clothes, English classes, travel grants, employment advice, childcare, access to legal advice and representation—and now healthcare. Doctors of the World has recently started sending volunteers once a month to the group’s meeting. Everyone’s entitled to free primary care