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
ASHA workers Nirmala, Alka, and Meenakshi talk to a resident during a door-to-door survey after the government eased a nationwide lockdown in Bahadarpur village, Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh on June 9, 2020. Their work during the pandemic involved registering the address and verifying the IDs (details such as Aadhaar card numbers and names) of migrant workers returning to the villages in the early months of the pandemic and following up on those with travel history who took ill.
