Measuring the Role of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAS) for upliftment of Health Services Under NHM: Myth or Reality

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the work done by ASHAs in the upliftment of health services in the selected villages and the improvements in the rural health due to ASHA schemes. Design/methodology/approach: Both primary and secondary sources were used, primary data were collected with the help of self-structured questionnaire using the purposive sampling from 90 respondents of ten villages of Garnai i.e. Gangal, lota Garnai, Upper Garnai, Kriya, Dela, Nagallia, Bishora, Padder, Mulgal Bai, Tunday Tlay by using the with five point likert scale, in-depth interview from the villagers. The PLS technique was used for analyzing the data. Findings: The ASHA worker plays a pivotal role in Reproductive and Child Health care (RCH) and family planning, gain a high degree of acceptability in the study area. The village community members paying attention to the advice given by the ASHA worker and taking the immunization vaccine like DPT, BCG, OPV and TT injections for their children and also seeking their help and guidance regarding their health problems. Counselling and Service Delivery is accepted, hence H1a and H1c is accepted. However, Availability and support services are not significantly contributing to service delivery, hence hypothesis H1b and H1d is rejected. The result indicate that service delivery is impacting quality of health services. Hence H2 is accepted. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited only to one sub centre of Garnai, in future more sub centres can be included for future research. The study can be further extended across various regions, states to establish the validity of NHRM schemes. Originality: The ASHA workers playing a crucial role during the immunization drive and by emphasizing on the role immunization on child survival, promoting reproductive health, safe motherhood, ensure the birth of the healthy child, birth spacing and family planning of the child.