CRC/C/PAN/CO/3-4 appropriate policy measures. In addition, the Committee strongly recommends against separating pregnant girls into special schools. It recommends that the State party take into consideration the Committee’s general comment No. 4 on adolescent health and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommendation of 2010 (CEDAW/CO/PAN/7, paras. 40 and 41). HIV/AIDS 58. The Committee welcomes some significant advances by the State party with respect to HIV/AIDS, such as increasing access to free testing for pregnant women and decreases in the infection rate among young pregnant mothers. However, the Committee is concerned that there are no programmes for children with HIV/AIDS, that indigenous boys and girls are at greater risk of infection for lack of targeted services and information, and that there is a lack of prevention strategies for adolescents. 59. The Committee recommends that the State undertake steps to reduce the greater risk of HIV/AIDS among indigenous children, including through the provision of culturally sensitive sex education and information on reproductive health, reduce the greater risk of HIV/AIDS among teenagers by providing reproductive health services especially aimed at them and by expanding their access to information on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, and that it direct programmes at children with HIV/AIDS. The Committee recommends that the State party seek technical assistance from, inter alia, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNICEF and UNFPA. Standard of living 60. In a context of sustained economic growth, the Committee is concerned at the persistent high rate of poverty, which affects especially children in most vulnerable situations, such as the Afro-Panamanian in marginalized urban neighbourhoods and indigenous children in remote rural areas. The Committee takes note of the State party’s efforts to mitigate the negative consequences of poverty and inequality, such as introducing conditional cash transfers. However, the Committee is concerned that measures addressing the structural causes of poverty and inequality need to be also tackled by the State party. 61. The Committee recommends that the State party study the structural causes of poverty and inequality so that the conclusions therein inform economic and social policies and programmes and that these be reflected in a comprehensive policy on children, in the National Development Plan and in the national budget. G. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention) Education 62. The Committee welcomes the State party’s efforts in reaching universal enrolment in primary education, the increased support for informal pre-school education in indigenous areas and the efforts to revise and modernize the national curricula. The Committee notes that an educational subsidy (Bono escolar) was made available to poorer families. The Committee also welcomes legislation introduced in 2010 recognizing the right of indigenous people to bilingual and intercultural education. The Committee remains concerned, however, that: 12

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