Prognosis
India’s Army of 600,000 Virus-Hunting Women Goes on Strike
- These last-mile contact tracers want better pay, PPE kits
- India’s total virus cases crossed the 2 million mark Friday
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They helped eradicate polio in India and reduced the number of women dying during child birth. But the country’s catastrophic coronavirus outbreak, now the third-largest in the world, has pushed its all-female army of contact-tracing health workers to breaking point.
After months of harassment, underpayment and lack of protection from infection, about 600,000 of the country’s one million Accredited Social Health Activists -- or ASHAs, which also means hope in Hindi -- are going on strike for two days starting Aug.7 to draw attention to their plight. Union leaders expect more may join as the word spreads.