Mishra A, Mishra K, Mohapatra B. An Appraisal Regarding Performance of ASHA in Rural Odisha-A Community Based Prospective Study. Int J Translation Community Dis. 2018;6(1):98-103 98 OPEN ACCESS http://scidoc.org/IJTCM.php International Journal of Translation & Community Medicine (IJTCM) ISSN 2333-8385 An Appraisal Regarding Performance of ASHA in Rural Odisha-A Community Based Prospective Study Research Article Mishra A 1* , Mishra K 2 , Mohapatra B 3 1 Research Scientist, ICMR NTF-HI Project, AIIMS, Raipur, Chattissgarh, India. 2 Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, SLN Medical College and Hospital, Koraput, Odisha, India. 3 Dean and Professor, Department of Community Medicine, SLN Medical College and Hospital, Koraput, Odisha, India. Introduction The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM, 2005-12) now called National Health Mission (NHM) a fagship program of Government of India, had launched since 12 th April, 2005 [1]. It aims to deliver effective health care to the rural population, especially the disadvantaged groups, by enhancing access, enabling community ownership and demand generation for assured quality services as per their need [2]. The concept of Community Health Worker (CHW) is not new, rather since past they are working in close association with the community health across many countries. A Cochrane review on health workers who worked amongst low-income communities of wealthy countries or amongst communities from developing countries shows evidence of CHWs’ contribution to reducing child morbidity and mortality, increasing uptake of immunization and promoting good breast feeding practices [3, 4]. Another systematic review reports that CHWs in low-income countries (such as Bangladesh, Brazil and Nepal) have demonstrated the capacity to improve antenatal, perinatal and post-partum service utilization and to prevent perinatal and maternal deaths by early recognition and referral of complicated pregnancies [5-7]. In India the evolution of community worker may be summarized as follows. The Report of the Group on Medical Education and Support Manpower’ popularly known as the “Srivastava Committee Report”(1975), proposes the CHW formally as a major part of the health system. In Gadchiroli Maharashtra, Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) Abstract The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM, 2005-12) now called National Health Mission (NHM) a fagship program of Government of India, has been launched since 12 years which it aims to deliver effective health care to the rural disadvan- tage population. Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) being the community health mobilizer is the main driving force of their area to the health system under NHM. This study aims to describe and relate factors affecting function of ASHA in her area, with a special focus on their service evaluation from various community stakeholders’ perspective. Aim of the Study: To describe various factors affecting performance of ASHA. Material and Method: Community based cross sectional study design at Jagatsinghpur district in between July, 2012 to June, 2013 (12months). Convenient sampling procedure is being followed and total numbers of study respondents are 117. Predesigned pretested questionnaire is used for data collection. Result and Discussion: Most of the (73%) ASHAs are in service for fnancial reason. Eighty percent (80%) of ASHA have adequate knowledge regarding Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) services. As per AWWs (Anganwadi Workers) opinion only 28% of the ASHA are good in referral of critical cases. Conclusion: regular and periodic refreshing training should be given with assessment. Incentive rates should be revised in order to motivate them for better performance. Keywords: NHM (National Health Mission); CHW (Community Health Worker); RCH (Reproductive and Child Health Services); PRI (Panchayat Raj Institutions). *Corresponding Author: Dr. Abhisek Mishra, Research Scientist, ICMR NTF-HI Project, AIIMS, Raipur, Chattissgarh, Postal code-492099 India. Tel: 08518881907 E-mail: drabhisekmishra@gmail.com Received: November 15, 2017 Accepted: January 17, 2018 Published: January 22, 2018 Citation: Mishra A, Mishra K, Mohapatra B. An Appraisal Regarding Performance of ASHA in Rural Odisha-A Community Based Prospective Study. Int J Translation Community Dis. 2018;6(1):98-103. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19070/2333-8385-1800016 Copyright: Mishra A © 2018. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.