Between Duty and Distress: A Study on Health Status and Multidimensional Challenges Faced by Anganwadi Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented demands on frontline community workers, and Anganwadi workers (AWWs) in India emerged as crucial community-level agents in mitigating the crisis. This study explores the intersection of professional responsibilities and personal vulnerabilities experienced by Anganwadi workers during the pandemic. Methodology: The study was conducted in Hisar, Haryana, India. Two blocks in the state of Haryana's Hisar district were used for the study. Ten villages were covered in order to randomly choose 100 Anganwadi workers. The villages were chosen by random sampling, and Anganwadi staff were reached by chain technique. Survey was used to investigate their physical and mental health conditions alongside the public, psychological, and occupational challenges they confronted. Result: Findings reveal that Anganwadi workers face public problems in record maintenances, delivery of home take ration and lack of help from community side and feel heavy work load in working of multiple departments and felt fear of infection in COVID-19 period. In health status, all most all the Anganwadi workers felt the need of restorative tonic and ever felt exhausted. Majority of Anganwadi workers had headaches. In anxiety more than half of the anganwadi workers felt nervous and in bed mood, some of the Anganwadi workers had lost their sleep and scared for no reason. In social dysfunction, the Anganwadi workers was not satisfied the way they did. Conclusion: By capturing the lived realities of Anganwadi workers, this study advocates for the institutionalization of protective measures and capacity-building efforts to enhance resilience among frontline workers in low-resource settings.