A/61/338 95. The right to health makes a number of important contributions to the struggle against maternal mortality and to improve access to medicines. It sharpens analysis of the causes, as well as the responsibilities of various stakeholders. Policies informed by the right to health are likely to be more equitable, sustainable and effective. This contribution is already recognized in the context of some maternal health policies and programmes. In relation to policymaking about medicines, there is also a growing appreciation of the positive contribution that can be made by taking into account the right to the highest attainable standard of health. 96. Additionally, experience confirms that traditional human rights techniques, including “naming and shaming” and taking court cases, continue to have an indispensable role to play in the realization of various elements of the right to health, not least access to medicines. Notes 22 1 UNFPA website, http://www.unfpa.org/mothers/statistics.htm. 2 Who’s Got the Power? Transforming Health Systems for Women and Children, Millennium Project, Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, 2005. 3 See, for example, Wirth, M. et al, “Setting the Stage for Equity-sensitive Monitoring of the Maternal and Child Health MDGs”, 84 (7) WHO Bulletin, July 2006. 4 Millennium Project, op. cit. at note 3. 5 Unsafe Abortion: Global and Regional Estimates of Incidence of Unsafe Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2000, WHO, 2004. 6 Wagstaff, A., and Claeson, M., The Millennium Development Goals for health: rising to the challenges, World Bank, 2004. 7 UNICEF statistics, 2003, reported in Bernstein, S., Public Choices, Private Decisions: Sexual and Reproductive Health and the MDGs, Millennium Project, 2006. 8 See Yamin, A., Maine, D., “Maternal mortality as a human rights issue: measuring compliance with international treaty obligations”, 21 (3) Human Rights Quarterly, 1999. 9 World health report 2005: making every mother and child count, WHO, 2005. 10 E.g., Cook, R., Dickens, B., et al, Advancing Safe Motherhood Through Human Rights, WHO, 2001; International policy on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, 2006; Freedman, L., “Human rights, constructive accountability and maternal mortality in the Dominican Republic: a commentary”, 82 International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 2003; Yamin, A., Maine, D., op. cit. 11 See International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), articles 10 and 12; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14. 12 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), general comment 14, paras. 14, 21, Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation 24, para. 27; ICPD, para. 8.25. 13 Freedman, L., “Achieving the MDGs: health systems as core social institutions”, Development, 2005; World Health Report 2005, WHO. 14 Millennium Project, op. cit., note 3. 15 CESCR, general comment 14, para. 12. 16 Millennium Project, op. cit., note 3. 06-51997