Общественная медицина и санитарное просвещение

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Role of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAS) in the Improvement of Health Status of Villagers under NRHM in Kolhapur District, Maharashtra

Desai PB

Context of Study: India’s primary healthcare system is based on the Primary Health Centre (PHC) and these PHCs provide treatment free of cost. It is also found that despite significant improvements made in the past few decades, the public health challenges are not only so huge but are also growing and shifting at an unprecedented rate in India. Therefore the Indian government launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 to “address infirmities and problems across primary health care and bring about improvement in the health system and the health status of those who live in the rural areas. One of the core strategies proposed in this mission was to create a village level social activist, designated as ASHA for every village and she is expected to create awareness on health and its determinants, mobilize the community towards local health planning and increase utilization of the existing health services. During 2008 this scheme is implemented in the all districts of Maharashtra State. There are total 2773 ASHA are working in the Kolhapur district. To provide medical care to villagers their role is very important. Hence present study made an attempt to study the role of ASHAs in the improvement of health status of villagers in Kolhapur.

Objectives: The objectives of present study are to know socio-economic characteristics of ASHAs, to study the work done by ASHAs in the selected villages and to study the improvements in the rural health due to ASHA scheme.

Methodology: The study is based on primary and secondary source. Keeping in view the resources available in terms of time, money and the objectives of study, for the present study, out 2773 of 107 ASHAs were selected by using accidental / convenience sampling technique from total four villages of two talukas of Kolhapur district.

Conclusion: Due this scheme rate of institutional deliveries increase with the skillful help of ASHAs, malnutrition decreases and infant mortality also increases.