International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-3, September 2019 2809 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication Retrieval Number: C5205098319/2019©BEIESP DOI:10.35940/ijrte.C5205.098319 Government-NGO-Community Partnership in Slum Health Service: Missing Link Umakanta Mohapatra, Shradha Padhi, Sucheta Priyabadini Abstract: The strategy of partnership among Government, voluntary agencies and community has been devised in Odisha for improving health standards in urban community (particularly slums) by enhancing the availability and access to the health services. The programmes envisage empowering the community to manage their health concerns with Government only playing the role of a facilitator. The present study has been undertaken to assess the real grounding of such 'doctrines of partnership' in today's socio-political context and its maneuvering towards realization of the targeted goals. The techniques of interview, focused group discussion (FGD), case analysis and field observation have been adopted for a holistic analysis of the project from the angles of its impact and sustainability. The findings point to the missing link of appropriate technology in creating a robust data base, 'tech-led disease surveillance system', 'telemedicine' and interactive video conferencing with audio, video, real time diagnosis and data transmission technologies. The study also points to a need for policy intervention for institutionalization of partnership among different departments and stakeholders. Key Words: synergetic strategy, urban health, health index, intersectoral collaboration, service provider, accountable, ground zero level I. INTRODUCTION Contemporary developmental literature has reiterated that development, to be sustainable must partner with people for whom it is meant. Inclusive development is a cooperative effort, and hence, can be realized only through partnerships and collaborations among different actors like Government, academia, civil society and corporations. Partnership with community and peoples‟ organizations will go a long way in effective delivery of services and good governance. The Odisha Urban slum Health Programme (UHP) initiated under National Health Mission (NHM) envisages such partnership in delivery of health services to the underserved and hither to excluded sections of urban population. The present study has been undertaken to assess the real grounding of such doctrines of partnership in today's socio- political context and its maneuvering towards realization of targeted goals. 1.1. Magnitude of urban health problem in Odisha Though the percentage of Odisha‟s urban population to total population (16.68%) is comparatively lower than that of national average of (31.16%); in terms of actual population, Odisha ranks 11 th among the States having large urban population. Urbanization in Odisha is growing at a faster rate in recent years. While in 1941 Census, urban population in Odisha was around three percent of the State‟s total population (GoO, 2013); it grew up to 16.68% in last 2011 Census. There were only 39 urban centers in Odisha before 1951, which has grown to 223 in 2011 census (Praharaj, 2018). On an average, around 43% of the population living in urban localities is below poverty line and around 23% of them lives in slums (GoO, 2015). It is estimated that urbanization in Odisha is likely to increase up to 30 to 40% from the present level in coming ten years (Mohapatra, 2013). Urban centers are hotspot of unauthorized slums. The urban slum population of Odisha is mostly concentrated in 12 towns, cities and industrial clusters namely Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Baripada, Berhampur, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Paradeep, Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda, Puri and Joda. For administrative convenience these urban locations have been categorized in to three levels on the basis of population viz. Class-I (cities with population of 100,000 and above), Class-II towns (with population of 50,000 to 99,000), Class-III urban settlements (with population of 20,000 to 49,999). Majority of the class-III towns are in fact 'rurban centers' (Khole and Dhote, 2016) from where there is constant migration of people towards Class-I cities (Patanaik, 2004). Thee slum dwellers in these urban locations have little to access to primary health care services and can hardly afford for private hospitals. Revised Manuscript Received on September 15, 2019 UmakanataMohapatra, Independent Research Scholar, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. email-1281083@kiit.ac.in/ mohapatraumakanta@gmail.com Prof ( Dr) Shradha Padhi, Associate Professor, KIIT School of Management, KIIT deemed to be University Dr Sucheta Priyabadini, Faculty and Director, Students' Counseling, KIIT Deemed to be University. The dynamics of the population is also quite unstable because of its socio-cultural diversity and ever fluctuating numbers. Owing to these reasons, it becomes difficult and even un-feasible to provide universal health services in these unauthorized locations resulting in low level of health indicators. The conditions of slum living with its low educational and awareness level are non-conducive for „Information education and communication‟ (IEC) and „Behavior change communication‟ (BCC) activities. The people remain underserved. Low level of investment by urban local bodies (ULBs) in these unauthorized locations perpetuates poor environmental conditions, inadequate health and sanitation facilities. Poverty and low level of awareness lead to malnutrition which in turn, leads to diverse alarming consequences. Anemia is a major health problem in the slums especially among women and children. Further, the other health indicators like IMR, institutional delivery, antenatal care (ANC), post natal care (PNC), complete immunization, anemia among the adolescent, infant mortality, underweight children are very low. The disease outbreaks are also frequent ( Nayak, 2013). One in 10 children in urban slum does not live to see his/her first birth day. Child mortality is 103 per 1000. Many communicable diseases like tuberculosis commonly prevalent in these areas adversely impact health of slum dwellers more particularly mother and