E/C.12/1/Add.107 page 5 33. The Committee is concerned about the insufficient preventive care programmes that have resulted in the spread of infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. 34. The Committee notes with concern the shortage of access to safe drinking water in highly industrialized areas. 35. The Committee is concerned about the significant number of persons, especially women, who suffer from mental illnesses and about the inadequacy of measures to ensure a decent life for persons suffering from mental illnesses. The Committee is also concerned that, in addition to suffering social stigmatization, persons with mental illnesses often spend a long time in psychiatric facilities, where they live in sub-standard conditions and receive sub-standard treatment and care. The Committee also notes that suicide among women is alarmingly high in the State party. 36. The Committee is deeply concerned about reports of forced abortions and forced sterilizations imposed on women, including those belonging to ethnic minority groups, by local officials in the context of the one-child policy, and about the high maternal mortality rate as a result of unsafe abortions. 37. The Committee is concerned about the continued irregularities in the State party’s provision of universal access to free compulsory primary education, in particular with regard to rural communities, minority regions, disadvantaged families and internal migrant population. The Committee is also concerned about the high junior middle school dropout rate in some rural areas. 38. The Committee notes with concern the reports regarding the discrimination of ethnic minorities in the State party, in particular in the field of employment, adequate standard of living, health, education and culture. In this regard, the Committee regrets the insufficient information provided by the State party regarding the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Covenant by populations in the ethnic minority areas. The Committee notes with concern the reports from sources other than the State party relating to the right to the free exercise of religion as a right to take part in cultural life, and the use and teaching of minority languages, history and culture and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). 39. The Committee notes with deep concern the restrictions placed on access to information with regard to academic research, foreign and domestic publications and the Internet. E. Suggestions and recommendations 40. The Committee requests the State party in its next periodic report to submit updated annually collected comparative data disaggregated by sex, age and rural/urban regions in the fields of all the provisions in the Covenant, paying particular attention to the disadvantaged and marginalized groups. The Committee also requests the State party in its next periodic report to include annual comparative data, disaggregated by rural/urban regions, the percentage of gross domestic product allotted for education, health and housing programmes, in particular in the ethnic minority regions.