A/HRC/22/31 appropriately disaggregated set of indicators and assessment tools should be established. In addition, health information systems should respect children’s right to privacy when personal data are collected and disseminated. Regular monitoring and review of appropriately disaggregated data on the national health system and the underlying determinants of health affecting children is a component critical to understanding and addressing child health and rights, globally and locally. States should regularly review their health information systems, including vital registration and surveillance systems, with a view to their improvement. 77. The links between poverty and poor health are well documented. Interventions to address poverty should be implemented alongside health education and services to mitigate potential financial barriers to the realization of the right of the child to health. Promoting women’s control over family resources can also contribute to the improvement of child health through the prioritization of child nutrition and access to health services. User fees and associated health expenditures can constitute an insurmountable barrier in access to health services. Social protection interventions, including such social security mechanisms as child grants or subsidies, cash transfers, and paid parental leave, are complementary investments that increase the financial accessibility of health services for children. C. Laws and policies 78. National laws should place an obligation on the State to provide the services, programmes, resources and infrastructure necessary to realize the right of the child to health, and providing also a statutory entitlement to essential health and related services for pregnant women and children, irrespective of their ability to pay. In addition, national legislation should also include a comprehensive prohibition of practices that are harmful to children. Legal provisions justifying or allowing consent to harmful practices against children should be removed from national legislation. Legislation should also provide for adequate complaint mechanisms and remedies. 79. Legislation should fulfil a number of additional functions in the realization of the right of the child to health, by, inter alia, defining the scope of the right and recognizing children as rights-holders; clarifying the roles and responsibilities of all duty-bearers; clarifying what services children, pregnant women and mothers are entitled to claim; and regulating services to ensure that they are of good quality. 80. Laws, regulations and policies can also constitute barriers to the realization of the right of the child to health, such as, inter alia, requirements for parental and/or spousal consent for access to health information and/or services; restriction on access to services by migrant children and their parents; and restrictions on the provision of comprehensive sexuality education. D. Birth registration 81. Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of the child to birth registration. Birth registration is crucial for establishing minimum ages for work, conscription and marriage and, during emergencies, for providing a basis for tracing separated and unaccompanied children. There is a confluence between children who are registered and those who are fully vaccinated, receive vitamin A supplements, and/or are taken to health-care professionals when ill. 82. Health systems are required to ensure that children whose births have not been registered may still claim the services and protections due to them on a full and equal basis 15

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