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In March 2020, India’s health ministry tasked 1 million Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) with COVID-19 duty in rural areas. This, in a country where 65 percent of its 1.38 billion people live outside cities. Suddenly, ASHAs’ workload increased exponentially. Yet, they remain underpaid and now suffer stress-related chronic ailments, reports Sanket Jain.