ASHA workers unfamiliar with antenatal check-ups

The study, published in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, was jointly conducted by Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Centre, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, and SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, to assess the knowledge regarding maternal health care among ASHA workers, and to assess the impact achieved after the training programme on the same.

Under National Rural Health Mission, ASHA gives counselling to women on birth preparedness, danger signs and complications during pregnancy, balanced and nutritious diet, safe delivery, breastfeeding, supplementary feeding, referral, mobilise the community and facilitate them in accessing health, and health-related services. More than 45 per cent of ASHA workers were not aware of registration of pregnancy, administration of iron tablets, four health check-ups, at least one dose of TT injection as their responsibilities. It was even worse in the case of knowledge regarding abdominal check, blood test for anaemia and danger signs of pregnancy, which were less than 10 per cent.

As part of the study, a training programme was held for the ASHA workers.

While only around 10-15 per cent of the participants were aware of high-grade fever and severe headache as danger signs during delivery, their knowledge on breastfeeding practices and benefits of colostrum were also low before the training programme, it improved to 47 per cent after the training.

“Knowledge of ASHAs on maternal health care aspect in antenatal care was only moderately adequate before the training programme, but it significantly improved after the training session. Their knowledge on the danger signs of pregnancy and during labour was not adequate, which got better post training. Understanding the importance of colostrum feeding and exclusive breast feeding was low, which may be due to the cultural factors and practices seen in tribal population,” said the lead author, Mohamed Jainul Azarudeen.

Though the study was performed in a limited geographical area, it has given a broad indication about the poor knowledge of the health workers in basic maternal care. Therefore, the study highlights the need of a training programme for health workers to help improve the outcomes in healthcare, added M Buvnesh Kumar, the co-author.