Grassroot Soldier : Role of ASHA Worker in Covid Management

Recently, a report titled “Grassroot Soldier : Role of ASHA worker in Covid 19 Management in India” has been released. The report encapsulating the experience and key role of ASHAs workers in India’s pandemic response strategy and the critical role played by ASHA workers in delivering routine health care services to the remotest corners of he country.

Grassroot Soldiers report is a collaborative endeavour by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Health Systems Resource Centres and Institute for Competitiveness.

• Conducting community level surveillance and contact tracing, encouraging behaviour change, monitoring of isolations and quarantine norms etc.
• Providing non-COVID-19 essential health services by giving doorsteps delivery of TB, HIV and NCD medicines, enabling access to institutional delivery etc.
• Role in vaccination drive extended right from spreading awareness to getting eligible beneficiaries vaccinated.

• Universalisation of ASHAs to all areas as presently ASHA are selected in slum/slum like areas, pockets of vulnerable population only.
• Leveraging technology to ease job of ASHA.
• Enhance security of community health functionaries in responding to a crisis as highlighted by World Health Organisation (WHO).
• Facilitate a whole of government approach by improving community’s literacy, physical infrastructure and access to basic services at the grassroots level.

About Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers

• ASHA workers are female community health workers instituted as a community based health functionaries under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) which was launched in 2005.
• According to guidelines laid down by the National Health Mission, these women are preferably between 25 and 45 years of age and preference is given to candidates who have qualified up to tenth standard.
• Since they are considered volunteers, governments are not obliged to pay them a salary and receive performance based incentives.