ASHAs Give 'Asha' for the Sahariyas of Ganj Basoda: Collaborating with Public Health Personnel

Dhaatri's barefoot health volunteers in Panna and Vidisha districts focus on supporting the Gond and Sahariya Adivasi communities, mostly unorganised sector mine workers who face severe health risks like TB and silicosis due to prolonged exposure to silica dust under highly malnourished living conditions.

In an effort to address these critical health issues of the Sahariyas, our team organised a one-day health workshop with ground-level health personnel including ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) from 10 villages. The primary focus was to discuss field challenges, myths and public health programmes available for the PVTG Sahariyas.

The workshop detailed the incentive structure for ASHA workers under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), highlighting compensation for referrals, including cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and the six-month TB treatment course for patients. This workshop was aimed at strengthening collaboration between public health personnel and Dhaatri's team of barefoot health volunteers where patient identification, motivation and treatment success depends on community level convergence of intervention efforts.

While TB has a dedicated national mission for its eradication, silicosis remains largely overlooked despite its chronic and incurable nature. This has led to long-term suffering for these vulnerable communities. We appeal to the central and state governments to integrate the TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan with silicosis prevention, identification, nutritional and diagnostic support, and for life-long rehabilitation to protect these communities from occupational health crises.