E/C.12/NPL/CO/3 distribution, especially for the landless, tenants, smallholders and disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups; (c) Strengthen the capacity of public institutions and monitoring mechanisms to deliver food aid programmes in a non-discriminatory manner. The Committee draws the attention of the State party to its general comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food. Maternal mortality and sexual and reproductive health 26. The Committee is concerned that, in spite of the positive interventions by the State party to improve maternity services and neonatal care, approximately 5 per cent of maternal deaths are caused by unsafe abortions or antepartum haemorrhage, owing to low awareness of the legality of abortion and the existence of safe abortion services as well as the lack of access to trained health assistants and adequate services, which leads many women, in particular those living in rural areas and from disadvantaged and marginalized groups, to seek unsafe abortions. The Committee is further concerned that uterine prolapse is common even among women under 30 years of age, resulting, inter alia, from lack of adequate sexual and reproductive health care (art. 12). The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Conduct dissemination campaigns on the legality of abortion in the State party; (b) Ensure access to sexual and reproductive health services and to safe abortion services; (c) Provide adequate training to health assistants; (d) Take measures to prevent uterine prolapse among women by ensuring adequate sexual and reproductive health care over their life cycle and combat poverty, which is the main cause for women not resting sufficiently after delivery. The State party is encouraged to consider the technical guidance on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity produced by OHCHR (A/HRC/21/22). Older persons 27. The Committee is concerned that older persons are not entitled to universal health care and that health care is unaffordable for many of them (arts. 9 and 12). The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that older persons are entitled to universal health care and access to affordable health care services. The Committee also recommends that the State party disseminate information on the annual provision of Nr. 2,000 per person to help cover the health-related expenses of older persons in government hospitals. Primary education and drop-out rates among girls 28. The Committee is concerned that primary education is not yet compulsory in law and that the State party does not guarantee free secondary schooling. It is also concerned about the high school dropout rate of girls, in particular during the transition between the primary and the secondary levels, and at the secondary level, owing, inter alia, to the unavailability of an adequate sanitary infrastructure (art. 13). 10