Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to draw an action plan to ensure absence of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and reduction of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in children by half the end of 2023.
The SAM children are those in the red zone with a higher risk of contracting secondary infection. This category may suffer from severe illnesses. MAM children, on the other hand, show signs of malnourishment but are in the yellow zone which means their lives are not under threat.
The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy passed the order on Thursday while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the death of 11 children in Danagadi block of Jajpur district due to malnutrition.
While this petition has highlighted the alarming situation concerning SAM and MAM children in Danagadi and Sukinda Blocks in Jajpur district, there could be other districts and blocks in the state where the situation may be equally bad or perhaps even worse, the court observed.
During the hearing, WCD Department Secretary stated that there are approximately 36 lakh children in Odisha of whom 28,541 (as of April, 2023) are stated to be in the SAM category. Similarly, around 86,000 children in the state belong to 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,” the HC observed. Perhaps human lives and human health should, in the present context, not be discussed in terms of percentages but by acknowledging that they are actual persons, it said.
The court directed the secretaries of the Women & Child Development, School & Mass Education, Health & Family Welfare, Tribal Welfare and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare departments to hold a meeting within one month to firm up the action plan and start working towards achieving the target. The next hearing has been scheduled on August 1, 2023.
