clinics and other health-related facilities with trained medical and professional personnel and essential drugs (including antiretroviral therapy) as defined by the WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs but also other sexual and reproductive health related services, such as information material and contraception. Underlying determinants of the right to health such as safe and potable drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities are normally also considered included. Accessibility: Sexual and reproductive health facilities, goods and services have to be accessible to everyone without discrimination, within the country. Accessibility has four overlapping dimensions: 1. Non-discrimination: Sexual and reproductive health facilities, goods and services must be accessible to all, especially the most marginalized sections of the population, in law and in fact, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds, such as ethnicity, belief, age, sex, health status, disability, or any other status such as sexual orientation and marital status. 2. Physical accessibility: Sexual and reproductive health facilities, goods and services must be within safe physical reach for all sections of the population, especially marginalized groups, such as women, those living in poverty, adolescents and youth; women survivors of violence and abuse; persons living with HIV; sex workers; minorities and indigenous people; persons living with disabilities; refugees and internally displaced persons; and aging persons. Accessibility also implies that medical services and underlying determinants of health, such 84 as safe and potable water and adequate sanitation facilities, are within safe physical reach, including in rural areas. Accessibility further includes adequate access to buildings for persons with disabilities. Information material must be accessible in all languages and to the visually impaired and the illiterate. 3. Economic accessibility (affordability): Sexual and reproductive health facilities, goods and services must be affordable for all. Payment for sexual and reproductive health-care services, as well as services related to the underlying determinants of health, has to be based on the principle of equality, ensuring that these services, whether privately or publicly provided, are affordable for all, including socially disadvantaged groups. Equality demands that poorer households should not be disproportionately burdened with health expenses as compared to richer households. 4. Information accessibility: Accessibility includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning sexual and reproductive health issues. However, accessibility of information should not impair the right to have personal health data treated with confidentiality. Acceptability: All sexual and reproductive 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 designed to respect confidentiality and improve the health status of those concerned. As can be seen, this

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