CRC/C/ALB/CO/2-4 Health and health services 60. While welcoming the information provided by the State party during the dialogue on the national programme to reduce child malnutrition and the national awareness campaign launched in March 2012 on “The new and better ways of feeding babies and children in Albania”, the Committee is concerned at the still high infant mortality rate – largely resulting from malnutrition – which affects particularly children living in remote areas. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned by: (a) The high proportion of Roma children (almost half of them) that do not have a health card and are therefore deprived access to health services; (b) Children’s access to health care being subject to their mother’s membership in the scheme of social insurance; (c) services; The difficulty for children of rural and remote areas to access health-care (d) The pervasive practice of health workers and doctors asking for informal payments which prevents children from accessing health services; (e) The fragmented organization of maternal and child health services and the lack of proper relations between those services and early childhood care institutions; (f) The declining rate of exclusive breastfeeding; and (g) The impact on children’s health of air pollution (especially in the capital Tirana), contamination of drinking water with pesticides and bacteriological substances and poor food quality. 61. The Committee urges the State party to prioritize the allocation of financial and human resources to the health sector with a special emphasis on primary health care in order to ensure equal access to quality health services by all children, including children living in remote areas and Roma children. In particular, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Strengthen its efforts to address child malnutrition, focusing primarily on the most disadvantaged categories of children and on nutrition education and access to quality food; (b) Ensure that all Roma children are provided with a health card and have effective and unimpeded access to health services; (c) Ensures that access to basic health care is not conditional upon the mother’s membership in the social security schemes; (d) Take all necessary measures to counter the pervasive practice of health workers and doctors asking for informal payments; (e) Strengthen the link between maternal and child health services, including paediatric institutions and the collaboration of these services and the early childhood care institutions; (f) Strengthen its efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age by raising the awareness of health personnel and the public of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding; and (g) Take all the necessary measures to address air pollution and contamination of drinking water. 15