page_title: Operation ASHA
section_title: Social model
hierarchical_section_title: Operation ASHA / Social model
caption_attribution_description: English: A community health worker of Operation ASHA giving a child medication for TB treatment
context_page_description: Operation ASHA is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 to bring tuberculosis treatment at economically feasible rates to disadvantaged communities. The organization’s primary work is detecting and curing TB and preventing and treating Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis in India and Cambodia. Operation ASHA specializes in last-mile connectivity, bridging the gap between government medicine distribution centers and the communities of patients to deliver treatment at the doorsteps of the under-served. In addition to detecting and curing TB, OpASHA's community health workers also educate the community about TB and its symptoms thereby helping to reduce the stigma there is regarding the disease even in today's day and age. In addition to TB, Operation ASHA's model and technology has been used in many other diseases such as diabetes, hemophilia and mental health.
  Operation ASHA was founded by Dr. Shelly Batra and Sandeep Ahuja. In India, Operation ASHA works under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program as a private-sector DOTS-provider. Operation ASHA is a member of the Stop TB Partnership’s Coordinating Board.
context_section_description: Operation ASHA has established DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy, Short-Course) clinics in existing and accessible locations such as businesses, temples, and pharmacies where field staff supervise treatment. Going to these common places, rather than a separately established clinic, allows patients to avoid the negative stigma associated with TB. In rural areas, Operation ASHA uses mobile delivery, where a community health worker travels from village-to-village on a motorcycle/scooter carrying with him anti-TB drugs, supplies and equipment. TB patients in the slum are generally daily wagers. They cannot afford to miss an entire day's wage by going to a public hospital to get their medication. Hence Operation ASHA's centers are located in the community of the patients themselves and are open at a time convenient to them like early morning and late night so that they do not have to miss work in order to go and get their treatment.
  Operation ASHA stresses upon employing and training disadvantaged youths from the local community who understand the local culture and customs as TB-specific health workers. Two-thirds of Operation ASHA's staff is semi-literate/illiterate. Currently, Operation ASHA serves over 15 million people in India and Cambodia, with a team of over 250 field workers, 150 community partners, and over 4000 village workers.
  In addition, people are employed in India in the field of Haemophilia detection and care.
caption: A community health worker for Operation ASHA gives a child medication for TB treatment at a TB Treatment Center in Haryana, Gurgaon.
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