A study on assessment of ASHA’s work profile in the context of Udupi Taluk, Karnataka, India

Accredited social health activist (ASHA) workers and their activity are considered as the one of the key component of National Health Mission (NHM). ASHA workers serves as an important link between community and the health facilities. Objective To assess the knowledge and practice of ASHA workers regarding their roles and responsibilities and to study the challenges faced by them. Method A cross sectional study was conducted in health care centers of Udupi Taluka, Karnataka with 100 ASHA workers for Quantitative and 10 for Qualitative. Result The study revealed that the knowledge of the ASHA workers on ANC and PNC (82%) is considerably higher than the knowledge on Family planning (71%), Child health (65%) and General health (67%). 80% had expressed their dissatisfaction towards incentives and other working conditions Conclusion The overall knowledge of ASHA workers was sufficient in the field of MCH but there is a need for mitigation of few key challenges, which would significantly contribute to improvement of ASHA's work profile.