Bengaluru: The Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department on Friday launched the SUMAN Roadmap 2030, setting a short-term target of bringing the State’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) below 70 per one lakh live births and a long-term goal of eliminating preventable maternal deaths.

The roadmap was unveiled during a state-level workshop on Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN), held under the theme “From Roadmap to Results: Accelerating Karnataka’s Journey Towards Zero Preventable Maternal Deaths”.

The initiative aims to shift the State’s maternal healthcare approach beyond expanding access to services, with greater emphasis on quality of care, early identification of risks, timely intervention and prevention of maternal deaths.

According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) estimates for 2022-24, Karnataka’s MMR stands at 73 per one lakh live births.

Karnataka sets target to reduce maternal mortality

Health Minister UT Khader said every mother should have access to safe, timely, quality and respectful healthcare.

The SUMAN Roadmap 2030 has been developed to strengthen maternal healthcare services and address gaps that can contribute to preventable deaths during pregnancy and childbirth.

With the current MMR at 73 per one lakh live births, the State has set a near-term target of reducing the figure below 70.

The longer-term objective is to eliminate preventable maternal deaths through coordinated interventions covering the period before pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth and the post-delivery phase.

The roadmap places particular emphasis on identifying potential complications early and ensuring that women receive appropriate care without delays.

Seven-point action plan for maternal health

The roadmap includes a seven-point action plan covering key stages of maternal healthcare.

The interventions include:

  • Pre-conception care
  • Structured management of high-risk pregnancies
  • Quality delivery services
  • Emergency preparedness
  • Action-oriented Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR)
  • Zero Maternal Death Gram Panchayat campaign
  • Digital monitoring

The measures are intended to strengthen both institutional healthcare systems and community-level interventions.

The roadmap also seeks to use information from maternal death reviews to identify gaps and introduce corrective measures rather than treating individual maternal deaths as isolated incidents.

Focus on high-risk pregnancies

Early identification and management of high-risk pregnancies will be a major component of the programme.

Health authorities will focus on identifying pregnant women who face increased risks, classifying those risks and ensuring timely referral to appropriate healthcare facilities.

The process will also include treatment, safe delivery and follow-up after childbirth.

The approach is aimed at reducing delays in recognising complications and ensuring that women requiring specialised care are referred and treated in time.

By strengthening coordination between community-level workers, healthcare institutions and referral centres, the State hopes to improve outcomes for women with high-risk pregnancies.

Districts to identify local gaps

The roadmap also gives districts a role in determining interventions based on their specific maternal healthcare challenges.

District administrations have been asked to identify three to five critical interventions based on local gaps and implement them at institutional as well as community levels.

This approach is intended to ensure that districts do not follow a uniform model where local healthcare challenges differ.

The State will provide technical guidance, standards and monitoring support, while district administrations and healthcare institutions will be responsible for implementation.

The strategy places responsibility on local health systems to identify areas requiring immediate attention and translate the roadmap into measurable action.

Maternal death reviews to guide action

Maternal Death Surveillance and Response will be another important component of the roadmap.

Under the approach, maternal deaths are reviewed to understand the circumstances and identify gaps in healthcare delivery, referral systems or emergency response.

The roadmap seeks to make these reviews action-oriented so that findings can lead to specific interventions.

The objective is to use evidence from maternal deaths to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Zero Maternal Death Gram Panchayat campaign will extend this approach to the community level, with local institutions expected to play a role in improving awareness, identifying risks and supporting timely access to healthcare.

Digital monitoring to track progress

Digital monitoring is also part of the seven-point action plan.

The State intends to use digital systems to monitor implementation and track progress across districts and healthcare institutions.

Such monitoring can help health authorities identify gaps, follow up on interventions and assess whether planned measures are producing results.

The roadmap therefore combines preventive healthcare, clinical interventions, community participation and monitoring mechanisms in an effort to bring down Karnataka’s maternal mortality rate.

Stakeholders participate in state-level workshop

The roadmap was launched at the state-level SUMAN workshop, which brought together stakeholders involved in maternal healthcare.

Medical superintendents, obstetricians, technical experts and development partners participated in the workshop.

The gathering focused on translating the roadmap into practical interventions and strengthening coordination between different levels of the health system.

The State’s immediate target is to bring the MMR below 70 per one lakh live births from the current level of 73, based on the latest SRS estimates for 2022-24.

The longer-term goal of the SUMAN Roadmap 2030 is to ensure that preventable maternal deaths are eliminated through early risk identification, timely referral, quality delivery services, emergency preparedness and continuous monitoring.