JP Nadda launches SUMAN Roadmap 2030 to improve maternal, newborn healthcare
New Delhi: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda, has launched the SUMAN Roadmap 2030, a comprehensive and forward-looking strategic framework aimed at strengthening maternal and newborn healthcare across the country and accelerating India's progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Roadmap was unveiled during the 16th Conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) in the presence of Union Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel and Shri Prataprao Jadhav, Health Ministers from States and Union Territories, senior officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and other distinguished delegates.
India has registered significant gains in maternal and newborn health over the past decade through sustained policy interventions and strengthened healthcare delivery systems. However, despite this remarkable progress, maternal and newborn mortality continues to remain a challenge in certain geographies, particularly in high-focus States. Recognising the need for a more targeted and differentiated approach, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has developed the SUMAN Roadmap 2030, an evidence-driven strategy that combines national priorities with local realities to deliver equitable, high-quality maternal and newborn healthcare across the country, the press release stated.
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Anchored in the RMNCHA+N framework, the Roadmap adopts a comprehensive life-cycle approach, integrating interventions from pre-pregnancy through pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, while ensuring convergence with child health, adolescent health, family planning and nutrition programmes. The framework is designed to deliver seamless, person-centric care across every stage of the reproductive and maternal health continuum.
A defining feature of the Roadmap is its structured approach to the identification, tracking and management of high-risk pregnancies through four critical stages—antenatal care, third-trimester care, intrapartum care and the postnatal period—thereby enabling timely interventions and improved clinical outcomes. Drawing upon field experiences and evidence from programme implementation, the strategy also addresses challenges related to transportation, healthcare access in tribal and hard-to-reach areas, quality emergency obstetric care, community participation through SUMAN Panchayats, and the growing impact of climate change on maternal and newborn health.
To accelerate improvements where the burden remains highest, the Roadmap introduces focused, time-bound interventions across 130 districts in 13 high-focus States—Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal—while simultaneously outlining strategies for all States and Union Territories to sustain progress and achieve universal coverage of quality maternal and newborn healthcare services.
For the identified high-focus States, the Roadmap proposes a comprehensive package of interventions, including the SUMAN Package for Pregnant Women to promote early registration, complete antenatal care, quality clinical assessment and adequate post-partum institutional stay. It also provides for bi-weekly home visits by ASHAs during the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy to facilitate early identification of danger signs, nutrition counselling, birth preparedness and institutional deliveries. Additional measures include financial support for designated caregivers during the critical postnatal period, special incentives for referral transport during obstetric emergencies, and strengthening health infrastructure through the establishment of Birth Waiting Homes, Maternal and Child Health Wings, Obstetric High Dependency Units and Intensive Care Units in difficult and underserved areas.
For all States and Union Territories, the Roadmap envisages a comprehensive set of interventions to further strengthen maternal and newborn healthcare. These include institutionalising pre-pregnancy care through folic acid supplementation for women planning pregnancy, expanding nutrition interventions to address maternal anaemia and undernutrition, strengthening surveillance and management of high-risk pregnancies throughout the continuum of care, and promoting community ownership through SUMAN Panchayats and Mothers' Picnic initiatives. The strategy also emphasises strengthening Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) and Maternal Near Miss (MNM) reviews, wider deployment of Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garments (NASG) for obstetric haemorrhage management, AI-enabled labour rooms, enhanced digital monitoring through the JANANI Portal, climate-responsive planning for pregnant women and newborns, optimisation of Caesarean section practices, and integration of the Samagra Shishu Bal Swasthya Karyakram (SSBSK) to provide seamless home-based care for children from birth to 36 months.
To ensure effective implementation and sustained outcomes, the Roadmap envisages the development of Centres of Excellence for maternal and newborn healthcare, establishment of a centralised SUMAN Call Centre for grievance redressal, stronger referral linkages across healthcare facilities, and robust digital monitoring and reporting mechanisms through the JANANI Portal.
The SUMAN Roadmap 2030 also represents a transformative national strategy to strengthen maternal health, newborn care, family planning and nutrition services through a combination of evidence-based interventions, digital innovation, health systems strengthening and community participation. Spearheaded by the Maternal Health Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the RMNCHA+N framework, the initiative seeks to accelerate India's progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The Roadmap envisions reducing the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) to below 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, further lowering the Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), achieving universal saturation of maternal and newborn health services across all States and Union Territories, and ultimately realising the goal of zero preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
The launch of the SUMAN Roadmap 2030 marks a significant milestone in India's continued commitment to ensuring safe motherhood and healthy newborns. By combining scientific evidence, targeted interventions, strengthened health systems and active community engagement, the Roadmap lays the foundation for a more resilient, equitable and responsive maternal and newborn healthcare ecosystem, ensuring that no mother or newborn is left behind.
