MSIF engaged with grassroots healthcare workers (ASHAs) to help them serve their communities through the COVID crisis, which led the government and stakeholders to become more resilient to the ongoing crisis.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic put to test India’s public healthcare machinery, which includes community healthcare workers called ASHAs—Accredited Social Health Activists. The pandemic compelled the state and central governments and stakeholders to make the system more robust and dynamic to better absorb such shocks in the future.
In this context, MSIF intended to understand the underlying dynamics and impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of healthcare services and ASHAs, for which we carried out primary research. We interviewed ASHA workers and beneficiaries in the rural areas of three states that lagged in public health indicators—Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar. Based on our report, MSIF provided strategic recommendations to the governments and stakeholders to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and make the systems resilient.