All hopes on ASHA if Covid-19 third wave strikes

ASHA workers at a webinar held for them along with members of the state paediatric task force

Maharashtra has pinned its hopes on ASHA workers in the management of Covid-19 in children, along with the state paediatric task force. The state has around 68,000 ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) personnel whose help will be taken to educate people, monitor and manage the mild form of Covid-19, which is 90-95% of total paediatric Covid-19 cases.

Members of the state paediatric task force explained ASHA workers the symptoms of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome with photos in the webinar

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday urged ASHA workers in a webinar to create awareness about making villages novel Coronavirus-free, and said they had an important role to play to stop a possible third wave that could affect children.

‘A special bond with people'

"ASHA workers share a special bond with the people in their area. The door-to-door work done by them will be helpful for us to handle the possible third wave in children. It is clinically observed that 90-95% of the total children affected by Covid-19 have a mild form that can be treated at home with a daily follow up by tele-consultation in nearby fever clinics. This is where ASHA workers will play a key role," said Dr Suhas Prabhu, paediatrician and chairperson of the state paediatric task force, who was part of the webinar.

Also Read: ASHA workers role significant to prevent possible third wave: Uddhav Thackeray

"An ASHA worker's main job is to remove the fear from parents' minds on Covid-19 affecting their child and encourage them to approach the fever clinic and get the child tested if the doctor feels so," added Dr Prabhu.

Focus on comorbid kids

The state paediatric task force highlighted that ASHA workers should pay more attention to children with comorbidities like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, immunocompromised states, chronic diseases of lung, kidney, liver, obesity, etc. "Children with comorbidities like obesity are at high risk when they get Covid-19. We are educating ASHA workers to keep a tab on such children so if they are found positive for Covid-19, they need close monitoring and may need to be shifted to pediatric Covid-19 centre and kept under medical observation," said Dr Vijay Yewale, paediatrician and member of the state paediatric task force. The doctors said that while most of the children can be treated at home, 14 days of quarantine is a must, and they should be kept away from senior citizens at
home.

The doctors also guided the ASHA workers on identifying Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children that's reported post Covid-19 recovery. In MIS-C, some organs and tissues - such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, brain, skin or eyes - become severely inflamed. Symptoms include fever that lasts 24 hours or longer, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. "We have shared a pictorial depiction of MIS-C so that ASHA workers can identify and guide the parents. This way, we will save precious time," said Dr Yewale. Apart from how to treat Covid-19 positive children at home if the symptoms are mild and the nutritious diet that they should follow, the first webinar held for ASHA workers also focused on how to take care of a child's mental health.

Dr Samir Dalwai, developmental behavioural pediatrician and member of state paediatric task force guided the ASHA workers on helping the parents on a child's mental health. "The ASHA workers were trained to work on psychosocial problems due to Covid since they are well connected to the families in villages. The training included how to recognise signs, how to guide parents to deal with this, how to keep children well occupied at home and what parents should avoid," said Dr Dalwai,

While praising the ASHA workers for their efforts, Thackeray appealed to them to guide the parents and reassure them so that they don't get scared.

68,000
No. of ASHA workers in Maharashtra