A/HRC/21/16 million children, and through the conversion of tertiary institution loans into bursaries for qualifying students. 20. One of the major achievements in education was the doubling of the foundation phase enrolment from 300,000 in 2003 to 705,000 in 2011. By 2009, 98.5 per cent of children aged 7 to 15 and 98.8 per cent of children aged 7 to 14 were enrolled in school. The country remained poised to meet its target of 100 per cent enrolment by 2014. 21. With regard to health, among many improvements, in addition to the existing 385 public hospitals, a total of 29 hospitals in rural and urban areas were under construction, while 17 others were in the planning and design stage. Those facilities would also provide services for people with HIV and AIDS. Over 3,000 primary health-care clinics were currently able to provide counselling, testing and treatment for people with HIV and AIDS. That had resulted in an increase in the number of patients accessing antiretroviral therapy, from 500,000 in 2008 to 1.9 million in 2012. Access to HIV testing and treatment for mothers and children had improved, resulting in a more than 50 per cent reduction in HIV transmission from mothers to children, from 8 per cent in 2008 to 3.5 per cent in 2010. 22. South Africa had prioritized the issues of gender equality and the advancement of the rights of women, and the promotion and protection of the rights of the child and people with disabilities. The Government had established, in 2009, a fully fledged Department for Women, Children and People with Disabilities with the core mandate of advocacy for mainstreaming and monitoring Government policies and programmes with respect to those targeted groups. 23. Furthermore, discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation was prohibited by the Constitution. Given the recent spate of violence that had targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, the Government had established a national task team comprising representatives from the Government and civil society to advise on measures to ensure maximum protection and adequate remedies and to combat impunity. The courts had set an important precedent and sent a strong signal that crimes of that nature would not be tolerated. Recently, four perpetrators of the so-called ―corrective rape‖ of lesbians had been sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. 24. The Government remained undeterred in its pursuit of a nation united in its diversity, creating platforms for social dialogue to strengthen and deepen acceptance, tolerance and racial harmony. To that end, specialized institutions, provided for by the Constitution, had been established to promote and protect cultural, linguistic and religious rights and practices of the people. 25. Those values also constituted the vision South Africa had of the creation of a better Africa in a better world based on the principles of social and universal justice. 26. At a global level South Africa had, among others, hosted the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the 2010 International Federation of Association Football World Cup and the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17) as a demonstration of its commitment to multilateralism, its acceptance of its global responsibilities, and its promotion of a fair, just and equitable world order. 27. In pursuit of that vision, the Government had hosted and played a significant role at a regional level at the 2002 African Union Summit where the Constitutive Act of the African Union was launched in pursuance of a common vision of a united and strong Africa in order to strengthen cohesion and solidarity among its peoples. 28. In addition, South Africa hosted the recently concluded Global African Diaspora Summit on 25 May 2012, which resolved to establish an African Union diaspora volunteer 5