ASHA

An Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is a community health worker employed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a part of India's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The mission began in 2005; full implementation was targeted for 2012. The idea behind the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) was to connect marginalized communities to the public health care system. The target was to have an "ASHA in every village" in India. In July 2013, the number of ASHAs in India was reported to be 870,089. In 2018, this number rose to 939,978. The ideal number of ASHAs envisaged was 1,022,265.