Mitigation strategies and Covid appropriate and risk behavior : A descriptive study at slums of Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, the capital of state Odisha, is a fast upcoming educational and industrial hub. In that context a number of slums have arisen in the city to address the developmental needs of the city as well as the needs of migrant population from other districts, who have come for sake of employment opportunities.click here

 These slums as they do not fall under any civic body, are perceived to have poor or less access to basic amenities as well as health services. However, now every facet of urban planning has programmes and strategies laid down to address the issues of the slum population and Odisha state government has shown the way in this case to the whole world. Being continuously plagued with cyclones, epidemics and climate change issues year after year, the state government has inbuilt integrated measures to safeguard health and livelihood for the slum population. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the living conditions of these areas are not optimum for this population.         The current study tries to explore the pandemic preparedness of slums under the catchment area of the medical college and the mitigation strategies exercised. The covid positivity was below 1/0,000 population for this population in the study period and covid appropriate behavior was best in terms of not venturing out of homes i.e restricting human activity to the mimumum and usage of mask was seen for 93% of subjects and practising hand washing with soap and water by 91% of subjects. Problems noted were sharing of masks(9%). Inappropriate disposal of masks in uncovered bins. Emphasis needs to be put in for improving sleep hygiene, cough hygiene and personal hygiene among the under 5 and elderly and women who were homemakers reported mental health issues due to lack of income and also alcoholism of spouse.

         The study gives a dipstick measure of containment of disease in slums and some best practices can be taken up for other cites.