ASHA Workers - The Catalysts of India’s Rural Healthcare Mission

Abstract

Rural areas encompass bulk of India’s population. Unfortunately, “these areas are the
breeding grounds of poverty, hunger and starvation”. So, to accelerate the process of growth
and development of a country, rural development must be given priority. Rural development
refers to the actions and initiatives taken for the social and economic development of the
rural or backward areas. In order to uplift rural areas from the clutches of social and
economic backwardness, the rural women can play a dominant role. They can be the key
agents in the development of rural areas and act significantly towards the achievement of
transformational economic and social changes required for sustainable and equitable
development. But the limited access to credit, healthcare and education are among the many
challenges they face. The study conducted to understand the fathom of the work done by
ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers in our country who act as a channel of
distribution of various government initiatives regarding community and health care services.

Keywords: Rural development, Socio-economic, Healthcare, ASHA (Accredited Social
Health Activist), Community health, Immunization.