A/HRC/29/9 National Strategic Development Plan, which served as an implementation strategy for the National Vision 2020 for the following five years. The Plan was expected to reduce poverty and promote the achievement of sustainable development. 16. Lesotho was on track to achieving the Millennium Development Goals relating to primary education, gender equality and empowerment of women. Efforts would be redoubled in order to achieve the remaining Goals in the post-2015 period. Lesotho would mobilize more development partners and exert decisive leadership to attain the National Vision 2020 as the Goals bore a close relationship to the seven pillars of the National Vision 2020. 17. With regard to education, free learning materials were provided, qualified teachers were employed and new schools, accessible to persons with disabilities, were being constructed in remote and rural areas. Additional classrooms in existing schools had also been built. There had been a sharp increase in the number of literate women and the school enrolment and completion rates were higher for girls than boys. 18. HIV and AIDS had had a devastating impact on the population and health-care system. Various efforts had been undertaken, including awareness campaigns, testing and treatment, male circumcision and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), whereby all HIV-infected pregnant women enrolled for PMTCT services were eligible to receive lifelong antiretroviral therapy. There was also a current national HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan. 19. Infant and child mortality had risen in recent years as a result of pneumonia, malnutrition, measles, HIV and AIDS, and diarrhoea. In addition to the subsidized fees and free maternal and health services at health centres, other government interventions included the integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses Strategy, PMTCT programmes, and policies such as the National Health Sector Policy with its Strategic Plan and the Young Child Feeding Policy. Services for women and children had also improved. More than 600 village women had been trained and employed to visit pregnant women regularly and to encourage them to visit health centres. 20. There had been an increase in human trafficking, whereby women and children fell prey to fictitious promises of employment and other means of earning a living. The Government had taken steps to ensure the protection of those vulnerable groups through the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, 2011, implemented through the National Anti-Trafficking in Persons Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2014–16. The Ministry of Home Affairs had spearheaded a multisectoral team on anti-trafficking and there were partnerships with civil society organizations and community networks to address human trafficking through intensive community awareness-raising campaigns. 21. Lesotho was dedicated to achieving the principles of gender equality, nondiscrimination and promotion of women’s rights, as illustrated by the appointment of women to high decision-making positions, such as that of the Ombudsman and the Chief Justice, and the adoption of a national action plan to end gender-based violence against women. Capacity-building training sessions on gender issues and gender-based violence had been held for the police, judges, magistrates, prosecutors, chiefs, and traditional and religious leaders. 22. The best interests of the child remained at the core of the Government’s agenda. The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act 2011 provided for the right to education, health and opinion for all children, and protected children against exploitation and child labour. It also made provision for a Children’s Court, which was now operational. Within the Ministry of Social Development, there was a department of children’s services tasked with the care, protection and development of children. 5