Need action plan to contain malnutrition in children, says HC to Odisha government

Cuttack: Orissa High Court asked the state government to come up with a plan to eliminate severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) in children.

The goal is to reduce it by half by the end of 2023.

The court order said that the chief secretary should hold a meeting next month and draw up an action plan to achieve the goal. The secretaries of the women and child development, school and mass education, health and family welfare, tribal welfare, food supplies, and consumer welfare departments were also asked to conduct a meeting within one month.

The bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy was hearing a PIL on the death of 11 children in the Danagadi block of Jajpur district. Children were allegedly affected by malnutrition. The situation in the Danagadi and Sukinda blocks in the Jajpur district was highlighted in the petition. The petitioner said that there could be other districts and blocks where the situation is equally bad or even worse.

The children under SAM are considered to be in the red zone. They are at a higher risk of contracting secondary infection and suffer from severe illnesses. The children under MAM show signs of malnourishment but are in the yellow zone. Their lives are not under threat.

According to the WCD department secretary, there are around 36 lakh children in the state. 28,541 are in the SAM category and 86,000 are in the MAM category. "To have in Odisha in 2023 nearly 30,000 SAM and 86,000 MAM children is a cause for alarm not just for the state of Odisha but for the government of India as well," said the court.

The next hearing is on August 1.