Bhopal: Facing the stigma of the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) in India and being in the top 3 states in maternal mortality rate (MMR) for the past several years, the Madhya Pradesh government has now planned to introduce a new nutrition policy — Suposhit Madhya Pradesh, 2030. The policy prepared by the women and child welfare department has decided to divide the community into four categories — children, mother, adolescent and adult — and make a comprehensive strategic action plan and targets for each category to deal with the problem. Under Suposhit Children, the target is to reduce all forms of malnutrition in ‘under-5 children’ and to bring down the IMR from the existing 56 to 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030. To bring down the MMR from the existing 173 to less than 70, the Suposhit Mother category will be carved out and separate plans will be implemented for them.
The Suposhit Adolescent category has been formed to deal with problem of anaemia prevalent among children in MP. Through this category, the plan is to bring down the anaemia rate from the present 53.2% to 26.6% by 2025. A separate category of adults, Suposhit Adults, has also been carved out to take care of such problems as under-nutrition and obesity.
To ensure the success of the nutrition programme, the department has stressed the need for establishing nutrition governance and decision-making at the grassroots level through community involvement. Community monitoring and social audit will be encouraged so that the programme is implemented at all levels. Special emphasis has been given on safeguarding nutrition interests of children from vulnerable groups, including migrant workers, SC/STs, landless labourers and so forth.