A/HRC/42/43/Add.2 progress. She insists also that more needs to be done to ensure that older persons in Mozambique, particularly older women, enjoy an adequate and decent standard of living. 101. She also calls on the Government to continue its efforts towards ensuring that all older persons, including those with disabilities and those living in rural areas, have access to basic services. She further recommends that Mozambique take targeted measures to ensure accessible means of public transport for older persons, particularly in rural areas where the majority of older persons live. Social protection and the rights to social security 102. The Independent Expert welcomes the national strategy for basic social security that provides for extended coverage of persons in situations of vulnerability, including older persons, and notes the considerable efforts made to create a package that guarantees a social protection floor. She nevertheless calls on the Government to intensify its efforts at the political and administrative levels to ensure that social security for all older persons becomes a reality in Mozambique. In particular, she urges the Government to ensure further expansion of the social security coverage to those in the informal economy, including agricultural workers, and to ensure effective implementation of Law No. 4/2007, which extended social security coverage to selfemployed workers. 103. She welcomes the efforts to address old-age poverty, but stresses that more needs to be done to ensure that all older persons, irrespective of whether they have been employed, are financially secure in old age. The introduction of a noncontributory old-age pension would significantly contribute to the financial autonomy of older persons. It would also have an important gender dimension, as women are particularly vulnerable to poverty in old age. 104. While welcoming the recognition by the State that the current pension is insufficient, the Independent Expert recommends that the Government further strengthen the capacity to implement the basic social subsidy programme and to ensure that the benefits are adequate to cover the basic needs of older persons so that it effectively addresses the risks of old-age poverty, particularly among women, and contributes to fostering intergenerational solidarity. She notes that, if necessary, due consideration should be given to alternative options. 105. The Independent Expert notes that additional measures are required to remove barriers that prevent older persons from receiving the benefits to which they are entitled. In that regard, she calls on the Government to improve its delivery model by implementing age-sensitive measures to ensure that older person have access to cash transfers. Care 106. Acknowledging that Mozambique faces a number of major public health challenges, including an HIV/AIDS epidemic and malaria, the Independent Expert commends the Government for its efforts to ensure provision of adequate care for older persons. She nevertheless stresses the need to expand health-care services in general and in particular to cater for the needs and necessities of older person in national health and development plans. 107. She urges the Government to ensure that older persons can effectively benefit from medical consultations free of charge, that they are accessible and that older persons receive priority care. The availability of medication for age-related physical and cognitive conditions at government health centres needs to be improved. She further calls on the Government to pay special attention to the precarious situation of older women to ensure that they have full access to health and social services. 108. The Independent Expert recommends that the Government take specific measures to overcome the existing barriers that older persons face in accessing basic health-care services, such as the reflection of health-care costs in the amount provided 17