Focus On Health Of Kids, Pregnant Women Lucknow: The state nutrition mission, approved by the state cabinet here on Monday, will begin with 41 high-focus districts. These districts, say officials in the state Health department, account for high rate of malnutrition. The list includes Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ballia, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Barabanki, Shravasti, Gonda and Balrampur besides the Bundelkhand region. The project aims at improving the standards of general health and immunity among children, adolescents and expectant mothers. As per government’s own admission, of the 19 million malnourished children in India, 20% hail from UP. “The blueprint for implementation of the mission is ready. It is set for launch soon,” said an officer. Sharing more details, a senior health department official said they had examined the model of implementation being successfully used by Maharashtra, the pioneer in this regard. “The Gujarat government has also adopted the model with certain changes. Another set of officials examined the Gujarat model and compared the two to draft the version for UP. The best points have been picked up for UP,” he said. Inputs given by Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and LG Arsenault, country head of UNICEF, which they gave in their meetings with the chief minister in February, have been incorporated into model. “Effective implementation of the mission would involve coordination between health, panchyati raj, rural development, child development and nutrition and social welfare departments which is quite a tedious task,” said an NGO which is also working to eliminate child malnutrition. Aware of the burden of responsibility, stake holders have urged the Akhilesh government to depute a senior IAS officer at the helm of affairs. In states where the mission has already started, the senior bureaucrat works as the director general of the mission. Another major issue before the state government is to address the issue of shortage of doctors and nurses. CM’s wife and MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav represents Uttar Pradesh in the Citizen’s Alliance Against Malnutrition, a body that comprises several social workers, NGO representatives and parliamentarians, and is taking personal interest in the mission.