A/HRC/38/37 6. The following interrelated and essential elements are part of the normative content of the right to health:5 (a) Availability, which requires functioning public health and health-care facilities, goods and services to be available in sufficient quantity within the State; (b) Accessibility, which requires health facilities, goods and services to be affordable and physically accessible to all on the basis of non-discrimination; (c) Acceptability, which requires health facilities, goods and services to be gender-sensitive, culturally, scientifically and medically appropriate and respectful of medical ethics; (d) Quality, which requires health facilities, goods and services to be scientifically and medically appropriate. 7. The right to informed consent is a fundamental dimension of the right to physical and mental health. It protects the right of the patient to be involved voluntarily and sufficiently in medical decision-making, and assigns associated duties and obligations to health-care providers. Important components of informed consent include: (a) respect for legal capacity, generally determined by the ability to comprehend, retain, believe and evaluate information provided in arriving at a decision; (b) respect for personal autonomy, without coercion, undue influence or misrepresentation; and (c) completeness of information, including associated benefits, risks and alternatives to a medical procedure.6 8. The human rights-based approach arising from these norms also requires that health authorities and other duty bearers be held accountable for meeting human rights obligations in public health, including through the possibility for rights holders to seek effective remedies when their right to health is violated, through effective judicial complaints mechanisms or other appropriate avenues for redress. States have an obligation to ensure the meaningful participation of all stakeholders in the development, implementation and monitoring of health policy. 9. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides for the progressive realization of the right to health and other economic, social and cultural rights. At the same time, it also imposes on States parties various obligations that have immediate effect, such as guaranteeing the exercise of the right without discrimination, and taking deliberate, concrete and targeted measures to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realization of the right, using the maximum available resources. States parties have core obligations to ensure the satisfaction, at the very least, of a minimum essential level of the right, including: (a) ensuring access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups; (b) ensuring access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe and potable water; (c) providing essential drugs, as defined in the World Health Organization (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines; (d) ensuring the equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods and services; and (e) adopting and implementing a national public health strategy and plan of action.7 Additional obligations of comparable priority include ensuring reproductive, maternal and child health care, and providing immunization against the major infectious diseases occurring in the community, education and access to health information and training for health personnel, including education on health and human rights.8 5 6 7 8 4 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 12. See A/64/272, sects. II–III. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 43. Ibid., para. 44.