General Comment Provisions related to Reproductive Rights b) Physical accessibility: health facilities, goods and services must be within safe physical reach for all sections of the ­population, especially vulnerable or marginalized groups, such as e­ thnic minorities and indigenous populations, women, children, ­adolescents, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS. Accessibility also implies that medical services and underlying determinants of health, such as safe and potable water and adequate sanitation facilities, are within safe p ­ hysical reach, including in rural areas. Accessibility further includes adequate access to buildings for persons with disabilities. c) Economic accessibility (affordability): health facilities, goods and services must be affordable for all. Payment for healthcare s­ ervices, as well as services related to the underlying ­determinants of health, has to be based on the principle of equity, ensuring that these services, whether privately or ­publicly provided, are affordable for all, including socially disadvantaged groups. Equity demands that poorer households should not be disproportionately burdened with health expenses as compared to richer households. d) Information accessibility: accessibility includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning health issues. However, accessibility of information should not impair the right to have personal health data treated with confi dentiality. 3. Acceptability. All health facilities, goods and services must be respectful of medical ethics and culturally appropriate, i.e. ­respectful of the culture of individuals, minorities, peoples and ­communities, sensitive to gender and life-cycle requirements, as well as being designed to respect confi dentiality and improve the health status of those concerned. 128