Empowerment of 400,000 Adolescent Girls in India

Usually we report about the experience of beneficiaries, how they have utilised and benefitted from services provided by the Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP). This time we are going to share the story about one of thousands of community health workers that have been trained by IHMP to provide health services to married adolescent girls.

Mandakini Diwakar Ghorpade, a resident of Pachod village, is married with three children. Her formal education consists of seven years of schooling. Following an intensive process of selection, Mandakini was selected to work as a community health worker (CHW) for a project that was providing health services to married adolescent girls.

After her selection she was given skills to conduct house visits, identify the health needs of married adolescent girls, provide information and counselling to them and their families, and motivate them to utilise health services. She continued to work as a CHW for 10 years, till 2010.

Because of the skills that Mandakini acquired at IHMP she was appointed as an ASHA by the Government in 2010. Studies indicated that 57 percent girls were getting married and becoming mothers before 18 years of age when she was selected as an ASHA. She used the skills of health needs assessment, morbidity surveillance, inter-personal communication and counselling that she acquired at IHMP, to the best of her ability after becoming an ASHA worker. IHMP continues to train and work with ASHA workers.

Mandakini was selected as the best ASHA five times at the Primary Health Centre level in 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. She was awarded first prize as best ASHA at district level in 2019. She received the first prize for promoting contraceptives among married adolescent girls for delaying first conception in 2016, 2019 and 2021. She was nominated to attend the World Health Summit.

When interviewed by a journalist she said “I have received these awards because of the skills I acquired at IHMP and the innovations that I learnt during my work with the institute.

An Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is a community health worker employed by the Ministry of Health as a part of India's National Health Mission (NHM). The World Health Organisation has recognised the country’s 10 million ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers as ‘Global Health Leaders’ for their efforts in connecting the community to the government’s health programmes. It is ASHA’s like Mandakini who have brought recognition for the health system in the country.