A/70/213 the services they are entitled to and conduct third party monitoring and analyses. Budget analysis, public expenditure tracking and absenteeism surveys t o monitor attendance of service providers in health facilities are other examples. It has been shown that responsiveness and transparency on the part of Governments are enhanced when citizen accountability is carried out effectively and their engagement has become central to implementing civil society recommendations for government priority-setting. 95. Accountability should include the development of new measures to monitor the development of young children, at the level both of the individual and the population. Therefore, the selection of indicators and the systematic gathering of data, disaggregated where appropriate, are not only essential to monitor progress but also to support accountability. F. Obligations on the State 96. The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a comprehensive normative and legally binding framework to address the right to health and the holistic development of the young child. States have legally binding obligations to adopt and implement laws, regulations, policies, budgetary measures, programmes and other initiatives to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of the right to health, including healthy development, in early childhood. 97. The right to health is subject to progressive realization and resource constraints. 61 This means that the right to health does not have to be realized immediately; rather, States must take effective and targeted measures towards the progressive realization of the right to health, including for the young child. This is similar to the concept of “progressive improvement” found in the Declaration of Alma-Ata. Progressive realization and resource availability also acknowledge the differences between high- and low-income countries. 98. However, given the overall low priority given to early childhood development reflected in low levels of funding for programmes, especially for children under 3 years of age, States should do their utmost to scale up investment in early childhood health and development. 99. Progressive realization has a number of implications. For example, States must have a national plan for the right to health and development in early childhood, the lead for which should be taken by the health authorities, especially for children under 3 years of age. In addition, coordinated governance across health, education and social protection policies, plans and programmes should be enhanced at both national and local levels. 100. Another implication of progressive realization is that there must be appropriate indicators and benchmarks to monitor progress in the realization of the right to health in early childhood. 62 Indicators must be disaggregated on suitable grounds, such as sex, socioeconomic status, age and ethnicity, to reveal whether the right to health is being realized on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. In recent __________________ 61 62 15-12535 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , art. 2.1; Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 4. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000), paras. 57 -58. 21/25