A/HRC/43/12 political/civil NGOs to access information. Thus far, over 25,000 NGOs had been granted permission to carry out activities by the competent authorities, and 63 NGOs had gained consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. 22. As far as refugees were concerned, the Islamic Republic of Iran had the fourth largest population of refugees and asylum seekers in the world. Despite inhuman and illegal unilateral sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran provided appropriate education, healthcare, livelihood and settlement services for refugees and asylum seekers through allocation of massive funds and domestic resources. Unfortunately, the international aid received in that regard covered a scant 3 per cent of the costs incurred by the Islamic Republic of Iran. 23. The Islamic Republic of Iran had sustained enormous human and financial losses over the last 40 years as part of its struggle against the production and trafficking of narcotics. As outlined in a report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2016, the Islamic Republic of Iran was credited as the standard-bearer for combating drug trafficking, with 17 per cent, 61 per cent and 75 per cent of total global seizures of heroin, morphine and opium, respectively. Between 2014 and 2017, law enforcement officials had seized 3,000 tons of various narcotics during 8,238 operations, in which 44 agents had been killed and 16 wounded. 24. As regards health care, even before the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the Islamic Republic of Iran had recognized primary health care as the key to universal access to health care. Over the previous four decades, it had created more than 17,000 rural health houses and 4,000 urban health posts. By connecting them to more than 2,500 comprehensive urban health centres, it had been able to cover nearly 100 per cent of the urban population and more than 90 per cent of the rural population. The establishment of those facilities countrywide had led to a reduction in maternal mortality from more than 200 per 100,000 live births in the 1980s to less than 20 per 100,000 live births in 2018, and a drop in the infant mortality rate from 120 per 1,000 live births in the 1980s to 13.4 per 1,000 live births in 2018. During the same period, child immunization coverage had increased by nearly 98 per cent. The Islamic Republic of Iran had succeeded in obtaining World Health Organization (WHO) certification for the elimination of measles, rubella and trachoma, and taken steps to eliminate malaria through integrated people-centred health services. In the field of non-communicable diseases, the country had recently run a mass campaign, mobilizing young persons, students and care providers to screen for hypertension, which had covered more than 30 million people over the age of 30. Some two million Iranians unaware of their illness had been identified and taken care of through the health system. In other initiatives, four stages of complementary polio immunization had been conducted in 2018 and 2019. During each stage, 1.2 million children under the age of 5 had been actively vaccinated, house by house, in high-risk areas for polio. In addition, free outpatient treatment of tuberculosis and AIDS was continuing, and all primary health-care services were provided free of charge to foreign nationals and immigrants/refugees. 25. Cooperation with United Nations reporting mechanisms was very broad. A large number of thematic special rapporteurs had already visited the country, and more such visits had been scheduled. II. Conclusions and/or recommendations 26. The following recommendations will be examined by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which will provide responses in due time, but no later than the forty-third session of the Human Rights Council. 26.1 Uphold its international commitments under the human rights treaties that it is a party to (Ukraine); 26.2 Continue to adhere to more international human rights conventions (State of Palestine); 26.3 Consider ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Georgia); 5