THE ROLE OF ACCREDITED SOCIAL HEALTH ACTIVIST (ASHA) IN PROVIDING AWARENESS OF HEALTH PROGRAMS IN VILLAGES OF SHIMOGA DISTRICT IN KARNATAKA

STATE
PRABHURAJ. D, SHEKSHAVALI.T, I.J KUPPAST,

INTRODUCTION:
About ASHA: One of the key components of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist. ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activist. ASHA will provide information to the community on determinants of health such as nutrition, basic sanitation & hygienic practices, healthy living and working conditions, information on existing health services and the need for timely utilization of health & family welfare services.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE:

The present study was carried out to know the the role of ASHA providing awareness of health programs in villages of shimoga district in Karnataka state. The importance of safe delivery, breast-feeding and complementary feeding, immunization, contraception and prevention of common infections including reproductive Tract Infection/Sexually Transmitted Infections (RTIs/STDs) and care of the young child and hygiene should be maintained in the villages to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

METHODOLOGY:
The survey was carried out in population from rural areas of shimoga district in Karnataka state.. A questionnaire was prepared & personally asked to the ASHA workers of the village and village population. The results have been analyzed using suitable statistical technique. A total 100 people of each village and 20 ASHA workers different areas of shimoga region in Karnataka state were interviewed with questionnaire.

DISCUSSION:
In the study out of 128 respondents not a single respondent had knowledge about complete profile of the drug which was taken up by self-medication practice. They were not even aware of the dose of drug, duration of therapy, toxic dose of drug, active constituents, indications and side effects of commonly used medicine like paracetamol used in self-medication. Major reasons of self-medication at student level were time saving, did not need advice from prescriber for minor illness, economic, fear from crowd at clinic. Most of the respondent has positive attitude in self-medication in minor illness. Few students consulted pharmacists for information on drugs. The pharmacists role is mainly seen as that of a drug salesman rather than that of a healthcare provider. Patient education and awareness campaigns are necessary to promote the role of the pharmacist in India. Students with a previous experience and with mild illness were more likely to practice self-medication. This has implications, because many diseases have similar symptoms and a person using previous experience may be exposed to the dangers of mis-diagnosis and consequently wrong treatment.

RESULTS:

This Result shows increasing the infant mortality rate. So for that overcome this problem government has started SNEHA CLINICS for caring of female adolescent health. They give proper sanitization knowledge after monthly menstrual cycle. Also awareness of safe delivery helps to upgrade the health status of new born babies. This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

CONCLUSION:
The prevalence of self-medication among professional students in Shimoga district is high. This descriptive survey shows that the majority of professional students had a poor knowledge about appropriate self-medication while the knowledge of the benefits and risks was not adequate. Thus, to avoid or minimize the dangers of self-medication: Firstly the students should be educated about the dangers of indiscriminate use of drugs. Secondly, the physician should be more judicious in prescribing, and must insist on drugs being supplied by the chemist only on a valid prescription. Thirdly, a proper statutory drug control must be implemented, rationally restricting the availability of drugs to the public.

Table showing the results of survey:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Anish kumar et al., Self-medication pattern among professional students: an concern; 2009 IPC, Ahmedabad. 2. Sanjeev et al., Self-medication patterns among medical students: Australasian medical journal 2012; 5(4): 217-220. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: CHINDALA. LAXMAN REDDY. E-MAIL: chindalalaxmanreddy@rocketmail.com

64th Indian Pharmaceutical Association; 07th - 09th Dec 2012