A/HRC/37/36 implementation of the reform. She also pointed out that a rights-based approach required the collection, collation and systematization of comprehensive data in order to design adequate policies. Efforts had also been made in health financing to enable universal health coverage. As for the empowerment of women and girls, since 2008 sexual and reproductive health rights had been guaranteed in Uruguay through legislation, including under the sexual and reproductive health law, which guaranteed access to social protection, free access to contraceptives, voluntary termination of pregnancy and freedom from homophobia. Ms. Lustemberg emphasized that health policies must provide adequate responses to local contexts and situations and noted that Uruguay had experienced excellent results in reducing maternal mortality and now had the lowest rate in Latin America. 43. Ms. Lustemberg noted that Uruguay would continue its efforts to address remaining challenges, such as insufficient support for early childhood development and care and remaining gender inequality, and further advance rights to and through health, including through regional collaboration in Latin America. 44. The coordinator of Youth Champions Advocacy Network Nepal, Smriti Thapa, taking the example of sexual and reproductive health, stressed that it was proven that a human rights-based comprehensive sexuality education was essential for young people to protect their health, dignity and well-being. Nevertheless, she pointed out that even where comprehensive sexuality education was put in place as a policy, young people had difficulty in gaining access to it owing to prevailing social stigma and the neglect of the subject in school curricula. She also referred to the obstacles that prevented women and girls from gaining access to sexual and reproductive health services owing to gender stereotyping in society, the horizontal gender segregation of health-care providers and the lack of medical curricula on the gender dimensions of health. 45. Ms. Thapa highlighted the fact that there were an unprecedented number of young people in the world and spoke about the necessity of ensuring youth participation, and particularly young women’s participation, in developing, implementing and monitoring health policies and services. She stressed that young people were experts in their own field and not just a demographic dividend, vulnerable group or “the future”, as they were frequently characterized. They were the present. As an example of youth taking an active role, she pointed to the strong influence of peers on youth health behaviours, highlighting the positive impact that youth-led initiatives in health, such as peer education programmes, had had. She emphasized that in order to ensure that no one was left behind by 2030, youth voices, their experience, their agency, bodies and life had to be acknowledged. She also stressed the role that youth leaders and youth educators could have as role models and by bringing in innovative solutions, including in achieving the 2030 Agenda. 46. The chief of the joint secretariat to the High-level Working Group, Rajat Khosla, began by recalling that the right of all to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health without discrimination was first pronounced in 1948 in the WHO constitution and yet the discussion still began with why rather than how this could be attained. He noted that women’s rights were still discussed with scepticism in international forums. 47. Mr. Khosla emphasized that in 2015, States had committed themselves to leaving no one behind under the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and that they were legally obliged under international law to enable everyone to realize the right to health. He stated that the right to health was a prerequisite for enjoying all other human rights and that good health could not be enjoyed unless human rights were realized. However, he pointed out that the realization of human rights and sexual and reproductive health rights, including access to safe abortion in particular, remained seriously uneven and stressed that without the realization of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, not only Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5 but the whole 2030 Agenda would be unachievable. In that regard, he called on all leaders, including those in the conference room, to be responsible and take concrete action not only at global forums, but once they were back in their countries and communities. 48. Mr. Khosla underlined the crucial role of health workers in implementing a human rights-based approach, as they played an important role in managing client complaints, civil registration, including birth registration, and reporting on the causes of death, which was a 10