CEDAW/C/49/D/17/2008 4.12 The State party explains that one of the priorities established in the Na tional Plan for Women’s Policies involves promoting qualified and humanized obstetric care, particularly for Afro-Brazilian and indigenous women, including attention to unsafe abortions so as to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. To this end, 18 actions are provided for through 2011, with the Ministry of Health being responsible for implementing them. In 2004, the Ministry of Health launched the National Policy for the Comprehensive Health Care of Women: Principles and Guidelines (Política Nacional de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher: Princípios e Diretrizes), reflecting the commitment to implement health actions that contribute to guaranteeing the human rights of women and reducing morbi -mortality arising from preventable causes. With respect to the policy’s formulation, the State party stresses the participation of the Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality (Secretaria Especial de Promoção da Igualdade Racial), the women ’s movement, the Afro-Brazilian women’s and rural workers’ movement, scientific associations, professional councils, researchers and academics in the field, health system administrators and international cooperation agencies. 4.13 Lastly, the State party explains in detail its emphasis on the reproductive cycle and actions taken aimed at ensuring comprehensive and quality health care for pregnant women through adequate prenatal care, specialized services for pregnant women at risk, labour and post-natal care in health units, emergency obstetric treatment and family planning actions. 4.14 The State party concludes that it has clearly not been indifferent or insensitive to its obligation to implement health policies that provide specific care to women. This effort is not restricted to sexual and reproductive rights, but pays broader attention to women’s health, which involves offering care for their overall physical and mental well-being. Author’s comments on the observations of the State party on admissibility and merits 5.1 In the submission of 19 January 2009, the author recalls that the obligation to reduce maternal mortality is one of the key obligations that the right to health entails. The author points out that the State party has recognized that preventable deaths are a serious problem in Brazil and that the failure to address these deaths constitutes a serious human rights violation. However, despite its rhetorical recognition of the problem of maternal mortality, the State party has failed to meet its obligation to guarantee women’s right to life and health . The author quotes statistics, including statistics from WHO, according to which over 4,000 maternal deaths occur each year in Brazil, representing one third of all maternal deaths in Latin America. The submission also refers to a United Nations assessmen t, according to which maternal mortality rates are “considerably higher than those of countries with lesser levels of economic development, and are generally conceded to be unacceptable”. 7 The continued high rates of maternal mortality in the State party constitute a systematic failure to prioritize and protect women’s basic human rights. The preventable maternal death of Ms. da Silva Pimentel Teixeira clearly exemplifies this failure. __________________ 7 12 United Nations country team, A UN Reading of Brazil’s Challenges and Potential (2005), para. 40 (available from http://www.unodc.org/pdf/brazil/Final%20CCA%20Brazil%20(eng).pdf ). 11-51699