Thematic Analysis of the experiences of CHWs Ashas in maternal health
Description
India’s flagship national maternal health programme is called the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). It began in 2005. A large scale CHW programme called the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) programme implements JSY, and other health programmes, at the community level. A study on the implementation experiences of Ashas, with a sample size of 100, was conducted in the state of Maharashtra. Open questions, designed to explore their experiences of JSY, yielded over 350 responses. Almost all the responses were about the challenges faced during implementation. All the responses were listed, and read repeatedly, yielding 10 themes. Repeated readings of these themes yielded two sub themes namely challenges due to gaps in implementation and challenges due to gaps in policy. A detailed matrix including representative quotes, theme and two sub themes was prepared.