CEDAW/C/49/D/17/2008 between the right to health and the right to health assistance, wherein the latter is restricted to medical actions performed to detect and treat illnesses and relates to the right to health in terms of the ability to cure illnesses or extend life expectancy. The right to health care or health assistance requires by definition the organization and operation of assistance services. 4.2 The State party then proceeds to examine the right to health in the context of its Federal Constitution and the corresponding competencies of the respective political spheres and the private sector. Article 196 of the Federal Constitution defines health as a right of all and a duty of the State assured through policies and universal equal access to the actions and services aimed at health promotion, protection and recovery. The execution of health actions and services may be performed directly by the Government or through third parties, with the Government retaining exclusive authority for their regulation, oversight and control. The State implements these actions and services through a regionalized and hierarchical network composed of a unified health system (Sistema Único de Saúde). Health actions and services, therefore, include health assistance or healt h care, as well as a number of other functions such as health surveillance, which together comprise the right to health. 4.3 The Federal Constitution mandates that the private sector may only provide health assistance. It is not authorized to execute the health-care actions prescribed in article 200 of the Constitution, 6 which bear no connection to health care. Private institutions may participate in the health system in accordance with its guidelines by means of a public law contract or agreement. As regards the distribution of responsibilities among the political spheres, section VII of article 30 of the Constitution mandates that the municipal governments provide health services to the population with the technical and financial cooperation of the federa l and state governments. 4.4 The division of responsibilities, as outlined in the Constitution, indicates that the duties corresponding to the right to health, in its broadest positive dimension, including health care and other health actions and services, are the sole purview of the State, as are their regulation, enforcement and control. The private sector is authorized to provide health assistance, which encompasses medical and pharmaceutical services, while municipalities retain sole responsibility ove r the health services intended for the general population. The scope of State action, therefore, is far broader than that prescribed for the private sector. Health policies, in other words, are the exclusive domain of the political spheres, as are the acti ons aimed at monitoring the health assistance services provided by the private sector. __________________ 6 11-51699 According to this provision, it is incumbent upon the unified health system, in addition to other duties, as set forth by the law: to supervise and control proceedings, products and substances of interest to health and to participate in the production of drugs, equipment, immuno -biological products, blood products and other inputs; to carry out actions of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance, as well as those relating to the health of workers; to organize the training of personnel in the area of health; to participate in the definition of the policy and in the implementation of basic sanitation actions; to foster, within its scope of action, scientific and technological development; to supervise and control foodstuffs, including their nutritional contents, as well as drinks and water for human consumption; to participate in the supervision and control of the production, transportation, storage and use of psychoactive, toxic and radioactive substances and products; and to cooperate in the preservation of the environment, including that of the workplace. 9