A/HRC/16/45/Add.2 the environmental cost and the rights of affected communities, including appropriate compensation. Communities have previously complained that compensation for confiscated land has not been equivalent to their loss, sometimes resulting in tensions and protests. 38. The Government of Viet Nam pointed out that, while some resettlement of communities has been necessary, it is conducted on a voluntary basis and with the agreement of local authorities, affected people and project investors for the benefit of the community. The National Assembly has established practices for resettlement and compensation based on the principle that “the new residential location must be better than the old one”. The Government highlights the fact that some communities have faced hazards, such as landslides, owing to climate change and the environmental impact of certain cultivation methods. It claimed that resettlements had resulted in better, safer homes and more stable livelihoods, and that socio-economic projects had created jobs and improved livelihoods. B. Access to health care 39. The Government highlighted the fact that it gave budget priority to health care, providing clinical and treatment services to ethnic minority people, especially local health care for poor and remote areas. According to a document prepared by the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs for the meeting with the independent expert, all poor communes now have access to some form of communal health clinics and health workers, 95 per cent of poor people from communes coming under programme 135 assistance for those with exceptional difficulties have health security cards, while poor households benefit from reduction of health charges. Programme 139 also provided free health-care certificates to over 4 million poor and minority people. 40. In the rural district of Dak To in Kon Tum Province, the independent expert visited a newly constructed health clinic servicing ethnic minorities. The clinic had two assistant doctors who had returned to the commune, as required, following their medical studies. The clinic handles basic medical needs and provides health information to community members. Community leaders confirmed that they had health insurance cards and that children under six years of age received free medical care. They nevertheless pointed out that the clinic lacked a qualified doctor and they would like provisions for more serious medical conditions. 41. Consultations by the independent expert revealed that, while improvements are evident, the provision of even primary health-care clinics and community-based medical practitioners is insufficient to meet the needs of many communities. Health-care needs may be most acute in regions in which living conditions are the harshest and where there is least access to clean water and basic sanitation. In the most remote villages, there continues to be a heavy reliance on traditional medicine, cultural practices and religious customs. 42. Maternal health care in particular must be a priority. According to information included in the United Nations Viet Nam Gender Briefing Kit (2009), the maternal mortality rate in the central highlands and the northern mountainous regions is four to eight times higher than that in the lowland plains. More than 70 per cent of pregnant women reportedly practice home delivery in some communes and districts. Lack of information relating to reproductive health, as well as early marriage practices in some ethnic minority groups, contributes to the higher risk of medical complications for minority women. 11