Mothers of Mercy: Life of ASHA workers during the pandemic
World Health Organisation (WHO) recently honoured ASHA volunteers for their crucial role in the pandemic. Here's a tribute to India's one million, all-women ASHA volunteers who, through the pandemic, knocked on the doors of cramped urban jhuggis and isolated rural villages on foot to educate, vaccinate, and save lives as if they were their own
By: Madhu Kapparath
The searing summer heat wasn’t the only deterrent for the ASHA workers Santosh Godara, Poonam Kumawat, and Suman Mahedra, who were conducting an awareness campaign and survey to contact trace possible coronavirus cases in Alakhpura, Sikar District, Rajasthan on May 21, 2021. ASHA workers face suspicion and angry threats from villagers who are superstitious, in denial of the existence of the virus or simply, vaccine-hesitant.
