A study on the role of asha workers in health communication for cancer awareness among rural women

Lack of healthy lifestyle is one of the important factors considered responsible for the increase in cancer cases in Punjab. Generally, people living in rural areas have low healthy life style than people living in urban areas due to less access to healthcare programs and medical facilities as compared to their urban counterparts. The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is a critical initiative of the central government which plays a pivotal part in the entire National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) design and strategy. Being one of the key components of National Health Mission, ASHA promotes health awareness activities in rural and remote areas of the country and acts as an intermediary between the public health system and community. It has not only controlled but also significantly reduced the post-maternity deaths of mothers and infants. ASHA is first port of call for deprived sections of population like women and children to meet their health-related demands and provide them access to better health care services. Although several studies have been carried out to examine the effectiveness of the services provided by ASHA in rural areas, hardly any studies are available to understand the role of ASHA workers specifically in awareness generation regarding cancer problems in women. Hence, the study has been conducted with the aim of exploring the answers regarding the role of AASHA workers in educating the rural women for various cancers and health issues and to observe their keenness and orientations in understanding problems of women in health sector. There are also very less studies conducted to examine the nature of hurdles that are confronted by ASHA in dispensing her duty. However, the performance-based incentives are regularly received by ASHAs in promoting various health programs, especially Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programs, but the scourge of these social workers is poor and wretched as most of them face different socioeconomic problems.