A/67/302 50. In addition to achieving more equitable health outcomes, allocating health funds and resources with a focus on primary health care also promotes efficiency within health systems. 53 Primary health care has been demonstrated to be more costefficient over the long term because it prevents illness and promotes general health, reducing the need for advanced levels of curative care, which tend to be more costly. 54 Savings resulting from investment in primary health care may be reinvested in the health system and utilized to increase access to health care for the poor, which in a virtuous cycle should further improve health outcomes. While a comprehensive and balanced health system must include available and accessible secondary and tertiary care services, States should prioritize primary health care in the allocation of health funds and resources. Rural, remote and urban areas 51. In order to achieve equitable health outcomes and full realization of the right to health, States must allocate health funds and resources towards ensuring that good quality health facilities, goods and services are available and easily accessible for rural and remote populations. Populations in rural and remote areas have poorer health than their urban counterparts globally. 55 Many otherwise preventable and treatable illnesses are prevalent in rural and remote areas, infant and maternal mortality rates are higher than in urban areas, and children experience higher levels of malnutrition. 56 Moreover, people in rural and remote areas often have to travel significant and difficult distances and spend large sums of money in order to access health care, which is often not available in their communities owing to a lack of investment in physical health infrastructure in rural and remote areas. 57 52. For example, the right to health requires that States take steps towards improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality. However, owing to inadequate allocation of health funds and resources to rural and remote areas, maternal health-care services, trained maternal health-care workers and good quality health facilities are often unavailable in those areas. 58 Women are thus unable to access maternal health-care services in their communities, and instead must travel considerable distances at significant costs to obtain care. As a result, women in rural and remote areas experience lower rates of live births attended by skilled health workers58 and significantly higher levels of maternal mortality and maternal morbidity than women in urban areas. 59 53. The right to health also requires that States ensure that good quality health facilities, goods and services are available and accessible on a non-discriminatory basis. In many States, rural and remote populations largely comprise vulnerable or marginalized groups, such as the poor, ethnic and racial minorities, and indigenous __________________ 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 12-46101 WHO, “Primary health care as a strategy for achieving equitable care”, p. 32. WHO, World Health Report (2008), Primary Health Care: Now More Than Ever (Geneva, 2008), pp. xvii, 42-51. WHO, “Inequities in health care and health outcome (2008)”, pp. 92-95. Pan American Health Organization, Health in the Americas, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C., 2007), pp. 58, 60, 62. Mandy Leveratt, “Rural and remote Australia — Equity of access to health care services”, The Australian Health Consumer, No. Two (2006-2007), pp. 16-17. WHO, Maternal Health: Investing in the Lifeline of Healthy Societies & Economies (September 2010), p. 10. WHO, “Making Pregnancy Safer”, Maternal Mortality Factsheet (Geneva 2008). 19