E/C.12/MUS/CO/4 live below the poverty level. It is further concerned that some regions are deprived of water supply and hygienic living conditions, particularly on Rodrigues Island (art. 11). The Committee urges the State party to take immediate and effective measures to combat poverty and ensure that the population has affordable access to water supply and hygienic living conditions, particularly on Rodrigues Island, in line with its general comment No. 4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing and general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water and its statement on poverty and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/2001/10). 27. The Committee is concerned at the alarmingly high number of injecting drug users in the State party. It is further concerned at reports that the National Drug Control Master Plan 2008-2012 was never officially endorsed and is not being used by the various stakeholders concerned. The Committee is also concerned about the sharp increase in cases of HIV/AIDS, particularly concerning intravenous drug users, sex workers and prison inmates (art. 12). The Committee recommends that the State party undertake a comprehensive approach to combat its serious drug problem. In order to achieve the progressive realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health for people who inject drugs and to ensure that this group may benefit from scientific progress and its applications (art. 15, para. 1(b)), the State party should implement in full the recommendations made by the World Health Organization in 2009 designed to improve the availability, accessibility and quality of harm reduction services, in particular needle and syringe exchange and opioid substitution therapy with methadone. People who use drugs should be a key partner in this initiative. As a matter of urgency, the State party should: (a) Scale up needle and syringe programmes to all geographical areas. The Government should amend the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2000 to remove prohibitions on distributing or carrying drug paraphernalia as these impede HIV prevention services; (b) Implement pilot prison needle and syringe exchanges and opioid substitution therapy programmes based on international best practice standards; (c) Remove age barriers to accessing opioid substitution therapy and develop youth-friendly harm reduction services tailored to the specific needs of young people who use drugs; (d) Remove restrictions on access to residential shelters for women who use drugs; (e) Make hepatitis C treatment freely available to all injecting drug users; (f) With regard to addicted persons, consider decriminalization and public health-based measures such as prescription of buprenorphine. 28. The Committee is concerned at the high and increasing rate of drug trafficking and related corruption in the State party (art. 12). The Committee recommends that the State party take the necessary measures to combat drug trafficking and related corruption. At the same time, the Committee recommends that these measures fully comply with the international human rights standards, including in relation to the abolition of the death penalty. 29. The Committee is concerned about the lack of information on the effectiveness of the strategies developed to combat chronic diseases, especially diabetes, tobacco use, and obesity and overweight (art. 12). 6