A/70/213 development recommendations. 26 The health system is therefore often in a good position to take a lead in providing integrated care for young children. 48. A strong health system that is based on such human rights principles as equality and non-discrimination, accountability and participation and that affords access to services for children and caregivers is at the heart of the right to health (see A/HRC/7/11 and Corr.1). The right to health gives rise to obligations on States to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children, with emphasis on the development of primary health care. 27 This includes prevention, promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care services. 28 49. Child-friendly health services, goods and facilities must be available in adequate numbers; geographically and financially accessible as well as accessible on the basis of non-discrimination; culturally acceptable; and of high quality. 29 The right to health principles of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality should therefore be applied in the context of planning and implementation of the main components of the health system: service delivery, health workforce, information, medical products, vaccines and technologies, financing, leadership and governance (A/HRC/21/22 and Corr. 1 and 2, para. 38). 50. The importance of primary health care, as expressed in the Declarati on of Alma-Ata, adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978, and in article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be underlined with regard to health promotion and health-care services for young children. 51. International human rights law places particular and explicit emphasis on the obligation of States to guarantee a number of relevant health and health -related services. For example, it places an obligation on States to provide appropriate pre- and postnatal health care for mothers 30 as well as appropriate services at birth 31 and to newborns. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has clarified the interventions that should be made available across this continuum 32 which are, for the most part, important for optimal child development as well as survival. Children affected by congenital anomalies or malnutrition, 33 chronic illnesses or severe and life-limiting diseases should be referred to specialized paediatric palliative care services, which can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centres and in children’s homes. 34 52. Palliative care for young children is an obligatory part of health -care services, beginning when the illness is diagnosed and continuing regardless of whether or not a child receives curative treatment. 35 Young children in need of palliative care have __________________ 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 12/25 Ibid. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24.2 (b). Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 15 (2013), para. 2. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000), para. 12. Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24.2 (d). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 12.2. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 15 (2013), paras. 53 -54. Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA) and WHO, Global Atlas of Palliative Care at the End of Life (London, WPCA, 2014), pp. 20 and 42. Available from www.who.int/nmh/Global_ Atlas_of_Palliative_Care.pdf. The WHO definition of palliative care for children is available from www.who.int/cancer/ palliative/definition/en/. Ibid. 15-12535