Who are ASHAs?

India and the rest of the world are in the grips of a pandemic that has upended the economy and stifled the income of millions around the globe. The ones worst affected in India are the ones who remain deprived of basic healthcare and medical facilities because of financial instability. And at a crucial time like this, it is our Community Health Workers- working around the clock to bridge the marginalised to those facilities- who are at even greater risk.

This campaign is to help a minority of them.

Community Health Workers are a vital component of the National Health Mission of the GoI. They provide health facilities to the areas where access is scarce, through 3 channels:  Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).

AWWs provide pre-school education for children under 6 and nutritional support to pregnant/lactating women at Anganwadi Centers. At the health Sub-Centers, ANMs dispense medication, immunisation etc as the primary contact point between the public healthcare system and the community.

ASHAs are the ones who support these two. Their responsibilities include going door-to-door to survey the most vulnerable, creating awareness about family planning and contraception, along with facilitating greater access to Ante-/Post- Natal checkups, treatment for mosquito-borne diseases etc.

Why do ASHAs need support?

Irregular compensation, excessive workload, scarcity of resources and insufficient support from institutions/leaders are routine to them. They’re regarded as ‘volunteers’ of the system and given ‘incentives’ per task performed, rather than a fixed salary. For each door-to-door visit, they may be given anything between Rs 50 to Rs 300, making their income directly dependent on the number of activities they perform. To add to this, they are not paid for the kilometers of travel they are required to undertake, almost daily. Finally, their remuneration may take as long as a year to reach them.

ASHA workers have been at the forefront of India’s war against COVID-19 from the very beginning. They are required to work hours on end to conduct household surveys and identify patients with COVID-like symptoms. They help deliver essentials to the populations in containment zones, yet must go up against the administration repeatedly, to obtain even the smallest quantities of protective equipment. On top of this, they end up facing hostility from the very communities they are serving. States like Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana have already reported infected ASHAs.

And as the entire nation’s healthcare machinery is reeling under a shortage of protective gear, ASHAs come at the absolute bottom of the list for provisions of PPEs, gloves and even masks.

Through this small initiative, we hope to provide some support to ASHAs in Haryana. We have been in touch with the All India Coordination Committee of ASHA Workers and their Haryana branch for the same.

Goals and Strategy:

• We have already delivered 600 single-use surgical masks to Rohtak district (who are currently distributing masks to various districts according to need). Letter of Receiving for the masks has been provided below.
• Currently, while Haryana has over 20,000 ASHAs, we aim to provide 1000 reusable masks, manufactured by NanoSafe Solutions Pvt.Ltd. (nanosafesolutions.com/fight-against-covid-19/php).
• Each mask costs approximately Rs 109 and is good for 50 washes, enough to last each ASHA for almost 2 months.

Any contribution towards this effort will be deeply appreciated and will go a long way not only in directly protecting health workers, but also facilitate in providing better services to their communities. With enough monetary support, we hope to expand the operation further to reach even more ASHA workers than we are currently capable of.

For any questions/ clarifications, please feel free to contact us:

Ushmita Seth
Associate, PwC India
DTU ‘18
+91-9810816683

Ankit Agarwal
Founder, Agmaco Industries
IIT Gandhinagar ‘17
+91-9910259090