International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | March 2019 | Vol 6 | Issue 3 Page 1147 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Azarudeen MJ et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2019 Mar;6(3):1147-1151 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article A study on impact of training programme on knowledge of maternal health care among ASHA workers in a tribal population of Tamil Nadu Mohamed Jainul Azarudeen 1 , M. Buvnesh Kumar 2 *, M. Logaraj 3 , Balaji Ramraj 3 INTRODUCTION Maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. While motherhood is often a positive and fulfilling experience, for too many women it is associated with suffering, ill health and even death. 1 Almost, all maternal deaths (99%) occur in developing countries. More than half of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and almost one third occur in South Asia. The high number of maternal deaths in some areas of the world reflects inequities in access to health services, and highlights the gap between rich and poor. 2 Maternal Health is important to communities, families and the nation due to its vast effects on the health of women, immediate survival of the newborn and long-term well-being of children, particularly girls and the well-being of families. Improvement of maternal health and decline of maternal ABSTRACT Background: Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) forms the backbone of NRHM who provides promotive, preventive, and curative health facilities in especially the vulnerable groups. There is a need to comprehensively look into the knowledge and performance of ASHA in terms of her job responsibilities in maternal health, hence this study was conducted to assess knowledge regarding maternal health care among the ASHA workers and to assess the impact achieved after the training programme. Methods: Community based interventional study was conducted among ASHA’s in Jawadhu Hills between April to July 2017, a pretested semi structured questionnaire was administered to elicit the knowledge of ASHA in regard to maternal health care. After the initial assessment, an intervention training programme was conducted based on a module prepared in their native language and post training assessment was done after two months. The statistical tests used were proportions, chi-square test. A p value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: Based on the initial assessment around 60% of ASHA knew about the core ANC, which statistically (p<0.05) improved after the training programme. Based on danger signs of pregnancy less than 10% knew about vaginal bleeding (3.8%), swelling of legs (4.8%), visual disturbances (6%) which statistically (p<0.05) improved after the training. Conclusions: Knowledge of ASHAs on various aspects of maternal health care was moderately adequate, before the training programme and it was significantly improved after the training programme, which shows that there is a need for regular fixed training programme to maintain the performance of ASHA. Keywords: ASHA, Tribal health, Maternal health care Department of Community Medicine, 1 Shri Sathya Sai Medical College & Research Centre Ammapettai, Thiruporur, Nellikuppam, 2 Chettinad Hospital & Research Institute, CARE, Kelambakkam, 3 SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 15 December 2018 Revised: 19 January 2019 Accepted: 22 January 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. M. Buvnesh Kumar, E-mail: buvnesh@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20190601