Publication:

Health services rendered through Accredited Social Health Activists to rural Uttar Pradesh, India: community’s perception

Background To reduce infant and maternal mortality in India, the Government of India (GOI), under its flagship program, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), in 2005, introduced a new village based health functionary named Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) to act as a bridge between rural population and health care delivery system. To a large extent the actualization of the goals of NRHM depends on the functional efficacy of ASHA as a grass root health activist.

Methods The Study was conducted in a Chiraigaon Block of District Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh., India from October 2008 to September 2009. A total of 270 beneficiaries comprising of mothers, who have delivered during the study period or within last six months since initiation of the study were enrolled and interviewed. Apart from that, 20 Multi Purpose Health Workers- Female (MPHW-F), 30 elected village Heads and five Medical officers were interviewed independently to know their opinions about work performance of ASHA.

Results This study revealed that 80 % of beneficiaries availed Ante Natal Care (ANC) check up. A total of 97% of the beneficiaries had received 100 tablets of Iron Folic Acid (IFA), 72% of the beneficiaries were counseled for nutrition during pregnancy and the child immunization coverage was more than 80%.  About 75% of multi purpose Health Worker-Female (MPHW-F), 83 % of the village heads and 80% of the Medical Officers were of the opinion that the maternal and child health (MCH) services have improved after ASHAs introduction.

Conclusions Overall, ASHA’s impact in the form of counseling on health services utilization by beneficiaries was observed to be statistically significant.