An accredited social health activist (ASHA) is a community health worker instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a part of India's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The mission began in 2005; full implementation was targeted for 2012. Once fully implemented, there is to be "an ASHA in every village" in India. In July 2013, the total number of ASHAs in India was reported to be 870,089. In 2018 the number of ASHAs were 939,978. The ideal number of ASHAs is 1,022,265.