ASHA workers accorded WHO's 'Global Health Leaders' award

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers, who are more than one million trained healthcare workers at grassroot level in India, are among the six winners for the World Health Organisation (WHO) director general's 'Global Health Leaders' awards.

Announcing the awards, WHO D-G Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said ASHA (which means hope in Hindi) are a more than 1 million female volunteers in India and are honoured for their crucial role in linking the community with the health system, to ensure those living in rural poverty can access primary health care services, as shown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the ASHAs worked to provide maternal care and immunisation for children against vaccine-preventable diseases; community healthcare; treatment for hypertension and tuberculosis; and core areas of health promotion for nutrition, sanitation, and healthy living.

ASHA community health worker concept was instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a part of India's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) since 2005. Their role is to create awareness on health and its social determinants and mobilise the community towards local health planning and increased utilisation and accountability of the existing health services.

Other winners are late Dr Paul Farmer, chair of the department of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Partners in Health, Dr Ahmed Hankir, a British-Lebanese psychiatrist and senior research fellow at the King’s College, London, Ludmila Sofia Oliveira Varela, a youth sports advocate from Cabo Verde and player of the Cabo Verde national volleyball team, eight volunteer polio workers who were shot and killed by armed gunmen in Afghanistan on 24 February 2022 and Yōhei Sasakawa, WHO goodwill ambassador for leprosy elimination and Japan's ambassador for the human rights of people affected by leprosy.

“At a time when the world is facing an unprecedented convergence of inequity, conflict, food insecurity, the climate crisis and a pandemic, this award recognises those who have made an outstanding contribution to protecting and promoting health around the world,” says Dr Tedros. These awardees embody lifelong dedication, relentless advocacy, a commitment to equity, and selfless service of humanity, he adds.

The award is to recognise outstanding contributions to advancing global health, demonstrated leadership and commitment to regional health issues. Dr Tedros himself decides on the awardees for the WHO Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Awards. The ceremony for the awards, which were established in 2019, was part of the live-streamed high-level opening session of the 75th World Health Assembly.