A/HRC/21/22 prevention and management of post-partum haemorrhage; caesarean sections; and appropriate post-partum care.28 Best practices indicate that newborn care should be provided along with delivery and post-partum care for women. 34. Authoritative public health evidence indicates that the following medicines – to which universal access should be effectively ensured in the national plan – are essential for improving maternal health; oxytocics; antibiotics; misoprostol and mifepristone; magnesium sulphate; anti-retroviral medications and testing kits; antimalarial medications in many countries and a full range of contraceptive methods, including condoms, hormonal methods and intrauterine devices.29 35. The national plan should explicitly include additional actions necessary to enable women to effectively enjoy their sexual and reproductive health, including but not limited to their entitlements to these interventions and medicines. 30 For example, it should address improved access for adolescents to comprehensive sexuality education, sexual and reproductive health information and care, including family planning.31 It should also address the elimination of discriminatory laws and policies and harmful practices that present indirect and direct barriers to the use of such essential services by women and to the effective enjoyment of their sexual and reproductive health rights. 36. Before finalization, the key elements of the national plan must be assessed for their likely impact on the maternal health of different population groups and income quintiles. Such ex ante impact assessment should particularly consider the impact on vulnerable and excluded populations, including but not limited to women with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, conflict-affected and displaced women, adolescents and other marginalized groups, according to national context. 37. A rights-based approach to health is a holistic and integrated approach to health systems. The national plan should recognize that the effective provision of emergency obstetric care and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections requires both the integration of services and well-functioning referral systems, including adequate communications and transportation and a continuum of care from home to hospital and across stages of a woman’s interaction with the health system. 32 38. Explicitly considering the requirements of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality under international law will help to ensure that planning addresses appropriately each component of the health system: service delivery, health workforce, information, medical products, vaccines and technologies, financing, leadership and governance. 39. The national plan should specify capacity-strengthening measures for the health workforce and requirements for the number and distribution of health workers while ensuring respect for health workers’ rights, including their labour rights. Where the conditions of work for health workers are a concern, the plan should specify measures to improve them. 28 29 30 31 32 Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, A Global Review (see footnote 25). PATH, WHO and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “Essential medicines for reproductive health: guiding principles for their inclusion on national medicines lists”, 2006. WHO, Packages of Interventions (see footnote 25). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, International technical guidance on sexuality education: An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, December 2009. See also Commission on the Status of Women resolution 56/3, para. 9. E/CN.4/2000/4, para. 44; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 12. 9