A/HRC/27/31 not jeopardize the enjoyment by any child of his or her health and human rights. Alongside its obligations to ensure children’s non-discriminatory access to high-quality health and related services that are socially and culturally acceptable, the State has a crucial role to play, and is obliged under human rights law, to sensitize the population about appropriate care-seeking behaviours for child health.20 35. In a recent report to the Human Rights Council a number of essential steps for effectively addressing under-5 mortality using a human rights-based approach were highlighted.21 They include: ensuring a supportive legal and policy environment; increasing access to preventive health interventions, services and life-saving drugs; expanding access to services for the integrated management of childhood illnesses at the community level and elsewhere; and establishing accessible, transparent and effective mechanisms of monitoring and accountability. IV. Operational guidance 36. Applying a human rights-based approach to reducing child mortality and morbidity means systematically incorporating attention to all relevant rights, standards and principles into national measures aimed at improving child health and survival. This begins with an assessment of relevant legislative measures, governance and coordination mechanisms, planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation efforts, mechanisms for remedy and redress and international cooperation to determine the extent to which existing measures, mechanisms and processes are fully compliant with recognized human rights standards and principles and where gaps and barriers remain that must be addressed. This should build on existing efforts with additional attention to human rights standards and principles as required. 37. Rights-based efforts to reduce child mortality and morbidity should adopt a life course approach. They should be situated within a continuum of care that pays due attention to the health and rights of women before, during and after pregnancy.22 38. Reliable data on priority health problems, including new and neglected causes of mortality and morbidity, and key determinants of children’s health, enable States and other duty-bearers to target efforts to address child mortality and morbidity. Governments and other stakeholders should collect such data through routine health information systems as well as other surveys and research, and ensure that they include quantitative, qualitative and policy data. 39. A human rights-based approach requires that those data be disaggregated by age, sex, location and other relevant categories in order to identify groups that may be marginalized or discriminated against and to direct additional efforts and resources to ensuring that any inequalities are addressed. 40. Data should be analysed, disseminated and used to inform national and subnational laws, policies, budgets, programmes and services relevant to child health and survival. 41. In the subsections below, illustrative examples are provided of State actions required under a human rights-based approach to reducing child mortality and morbidity. 20 21 22 8 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 27. A/HRC/24/60. A/HRC/21/22 and Corr. 1 and 2.