New Delhi: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Monday unveiled the SUMAN Roadmap 2030 during the 16th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW), outlining a comprehensive national strategy to further improve maternal and newborn healthcare across India.
The roadmap is designed to accelerate the country’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to reducing maternal and newborn mortality by 2030. It introduces a multi-dimensional and evidence-based framework that focuses on strengthening healthcare services, particularly in districts and states with higher maternal and infant mortality rates.
A Targeted Strategy for Maternal and Newborn Health
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the SUMAN Roadmap 2030 has been prepared in response to the need for renewed efforts to address persistent gaps in maternal and newborn healthcare despite India’s considerable progress over the past decade.
Rather than adopting a uniform nationwide approach, the roadmap provides customised, state-specific and district-specific interventions based on local healthcare challenges, available infrastructure, and demographic needs. The objective is to ensure that resources and strategies are tailored to regions where improvements are most urgently required.
Life-Cycle Approach to Healthcare
One of the key highlights of the roadmap is its life-cycle approach, which integrates healthcare interventions across every stage of motherhood.
The strategy covers pre-pregnancy care, antenatal care, safe childbirth, and postnatal care, ensuring continuous medical support throughout the pregnancy journey. It also promotes convergence with programmes related to child health, adolescent health, family planning, and nutrition under the RMNCHA+N (Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition) framework to deliver comprehensive and integrated healthcare services.
Four-Stage Monitoring of High-Risk Pregnancies
A major feature of the roadmap is the introduction of a structured four-stage framework for identifying, tracking, and managing high-risk pregnancies.
The framework focuses on:
- High-risk pregnancies during the antenatal period.
- Special monitoring during the third trimester.
- High-risk cases during childbirth (intrapartum care).
- Postnatal monitoring of mothers after delivery.
The initiative aims to ensure timely identification of complications, early medical intervention, and improved referral systems to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.
Special Focus on High-Burden States
The SUMAN Roadmap 2030 proposes targeted and time-bound interventions across 130 districts in 13 high-focus states, including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.
These districts have been identified based on maternal and newborn health indicators and will receive enhanced support to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and service delivery.
At the same time, the roadmap outlines broader strategies for all States and Union Territories to sustain progress and achieve universal coverage of maternal and newborn health services.
Comprehensive Support for Expectant Mothers
For high-focus states, the roadmap introduces a dedicated SUMAN Package for Pregnant Women aimed at ensuring early pregnancy registration, complete antenatal check-ups, quality clinical assessments, institutional deliveries, and adequate post-delivery care.
Community-level interventions will also be strengthened through bi-weekly home visits by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) during the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy. During these visits, ASHA workers will screen for danger signs, provide nutritional counselling, assist families in birth preparedness, and encourage institutional deliveries.
Improved Infrastructure and Emergency Care
Recognising the challenges faced by women in remote and underserved regions, the roadmap proposes several measures to strengthen emergency maternal healthcare.
These include financial support for a designated caregiver to accompany mothers during the critical postnatal period, improved referral transport systems for obstetric emergencies, and mandatory establishment of Birth Waiting Homes (BWHs), Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings, Obstetric High Dependency Units (HDUs), and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in difficult-to-reach areas.
The roadmap also addresses transportation barriers, healthcare access in tribal regions, emergency obstetric care, and emerging public health challenges such as climate change.
Community Participation at the Core
Community involvement has been identified as a central pillar of the SUMAN Roadmap 2030.
Initiatives such as SUMAN Panchayat aim to mobilise local communities towards achieving goals including zero maternal deaths, zero infant deaths, universal antenatal care, institutional deliveries, and complete immunisation.
Another innovative initiative, Mothers’ Picnic, has been introduced as a community awareness platform to encourage healthy maternal practices, improve health literacy, and promote greater participation of families in maternal and newborn care.
Advancing Towards SDG Targets
The launch of the SUMAN Roadmap 2030 marks another significant step in India’s efforts to strengthen its public healthcare system and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade. By combining targeted interventions, improved infrastructure, community participation, and evidence-based planning, the government aims to ensure safer pregnancies, healthier newborns, and equitable healthcare access across the country.
