A/HRC/33/57 and health-care disparities and social inequities. Information on effective communication with indigenous peoples should also be included. Specific programmes can also be created addressing indigenous health, such as the University of Northern British Columbia Aboriginal child and youth mental health certificate (for students who want to practice in remote indigenous communities) and the Native American Child Health initiative created by the American Academy of Pediatrics (dedicated to indigenous health care). 45. States should facilitate the entry of indigenous professionals in health care, as indigenous peoples are currently underrepresented. Facilitation of workforce entry can take many forms: for instance, through training quotas, earmarked funding or scholarships, and/or travel allowances. Indigenous peoples can receive professional training to bridge the divide between mainstream facilities, goods and services, and indigenous communities. Such training should be conducted sensitively and without prejudice to indigenous medicinal and health-related knowledge and practice. 46. States should also promote health through the provision of culturally appropriate information concerning healthy lifestyles and nutrition, disease and illnesses (including mental illness), harmful traditional practices, and the availability of services. Information should be provided in the patient’s language and information mechanisms that incorporate non-verbal communication patterns, as well as cultural beliefs and practices, should be developed. In some indigenous communities, certain issues, such as HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health, remain taboo: State cooperation with indigenous organizations is vital in implementing culturally appropriate awareness-raising campaigns among these communities. 47. The spiritual and biomedical benefits of traditional health-care practices and traditional medicines can promote and enhance indigenous health and bring unwell people into contact with health-care systems, facilitating access to care. Rather than stigmatizing and suppressing such practices and medicines, States should consider incorporating them into their health planning and promotion activities. 48. Indigenous peoples should be supported in making informed choices about their health by providing them with information and by taking State measures designed to facilitate healthy choices, including physical activity. States should promote healthy and traditional diets among indigenous people through the protection of indigenous peoples’ traditional agricultural practices, education campaigns and, where necessary, direct provision of or economic subsidies for healthy foods, particularly in rural or remote areas where processed or packaged foods are frequently more easily available and affordable to indigenous peoples. V. Indigenous children and youth and the right to health 49. Alongside the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States to take appropriate measures to ensure the realization of the highest attainable standard of health for children. In its general comment No. 11 (2009) on indigenous children and their rights under the Convention, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that indigenous children frequently suffer poorer health than non-indigenous children owing to inferior or inaccessible health services, and that positive measures may be required to eliminate conditions causing discrimination and ensure the equal enjoyment of Convention rights. The Committee urged States to consider implementing special measures to ensure that indigenous children are not discriminated against and can maintain their cultural identity, and noted that States parties have a positive duty to ensure that indigenous children have equal access to health services 13