In fight against Covid, ASHA corps toils on with little hope of recognition

Critical to the Covid-19 fight at community level, they remain undervalued and identified only as volunteers

India’s war against the coronavirus pandemic at the community level has rested squarely on the shoulders of its army of over a million accredited social health activists (ASHAs). They have been tasked with generating awareness about Covid-19 safety protocols, conducting door-to-door surveys to identify people with symptoms of the virus, visiting quarantined patients and more.
 

Constituted under the National Rural Health Mission NRHM in 2005, this critical cog in the wheel of India’s public health system, however, remains disempowered, undervalued and overworked, and is officially recognised as merely “voluntary”.

According to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), ASHAs across India