Role of ashas in neonatal visits in Uttar Pradesh, India

When ASHAs were introduced in NRHM in 2005, their primary aim was to visit homes of newborns as the first program in UP operated through the ASHAs was the Comprehensive Child Survival Program in 2008. Since then, tracking of all deliveries and all the newborns are an integral part of the work of ASHAs in all the primary health care programs operated by the NHM in UP. The current study explores some of the crucial variables of the targeted activities of the ASHAs in absolute numbers in four districts of UP. Through this profile, the average number of deliveries in the coverage area of ASHAs, tracking of both institutional and home deliveries by ASHAs, number of deliveries escorted by ASHAs in the last 3 months prior to the survey and the number of newborns that they covered through home visits. The relevance of the study assumes significance as data on the details of targeted activities done by ASHAs in comparison to their performance are usually not available in various studies. A total of four districts of Uttar Pradesh were selected purposively for the study and the data collection was conducted in the villages of the respective districts with the help of a pre-tested structured interview schedule with both close-ended and open-ended questions. In addition, in-depth interviews were also conducted amongst the ASHAs and a total 250 respondents had participated in the study. The number of neonates visited by each of the ASHAs in the 4 districts in their catchment area per month was in the range of 2-3. Among these neonates who had normal birth weight (at least 2.5 kilograms), the number of visits per ASHA per month was 2-3. Those with low weight (less than 2.5 kilograms) received 1-2 visits per month per ASHA. This reflected that the focus of visits were just adequate for each of the ASHAs.