A/HRC/18/35/Add.5 needs of the local people in several respects, including providing training in indigenous languages. F. Health services 26. Indigenous people expressed frustration at their poor health conditions and limited access to health services. The Special Rapporteur heard repeatedly from community members that they are often only welcomed at hospitals if they show that they have financial means. Even where free medical services are provided (children are entitled to free medical services under the new child protection law), payment for prescription drugs and obstetric services is almost always required. This reality is compounded by the absence of a public health infrastructure in indigenous villages; indigenous people must seek treatment at health facilities located in Bantu villages with Bantu personnel, where they are often subjected to discrimination or unequal treatment by health-care professionals or other patients. 27. The lack of financial resources to access government health services heightens reliance on traditional remedies to address illness. Indigenous knowledge of traditional medicine and therapeutic plants is renowned and has been the source of trade with Bantu villagers. However, traditional medicine appears to be powerless against certain modern illness to which indigenous peoples are now exposed. Reports indicate, for example, that yaws, hernias and appendicitis have become fatal conditions for these populations, also, maternal and infant death rates remain very high. G. Civil status 28. Access to all social services, which is often contingent on civil status – as is the case with primary school enrolment –, is difficult due to the low birth registration rate among indigenous people. Since birth registrations are ordinarily conducted in the main population centres of each department, which are often long distances from indigenous communities, many indigenous children do not have a birth or civil status certificate. Discrimination also plays a role in this lack of documentation, as, according to reports, indigenous peoples are often asked to pay for certification, despite it being officially free of charge. The Special Rapporteur notes the initiative of the Ministry of the Interior to address this issue through the adoption of a special procedure to register indigenous babies and ensure that they are given birth certificates. H. Participation 29. Indigenous people in Congo are limited in their ability to advocate for improvement to their conditions due to their lack of opportunities to participate in decision-making about matters affecting them, from the most basic village level to the national level. 30. The Republic of the Congo has no indigenous representative in national decisionmaking bodies, including parliament, nor are there indigenous members of departmental or district level administrative bodies. Indeed, not one single indigenous person is among the deputies and senators who constitute the National Assembly. Likewise, there are no mechanisms to facilitate or ensure indigenous political representation.10 10 ILO and ACHPR, Overview report of the research project on the constitutional and legislative protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in 24 African Countries, 2009, pp. 42-43 and 51.   9