A/RES/64/299 comprehensive approach that includes health financing, the training and retention of the health workforce, procurement and distribution of medicines and vaccines, infrastructure, information systems and service delivery; (f) Strengthening basic infrastructure, human and technical resources and the provision of health facilities so as to improve health systems and ensure the accessibility, affordability and quality, especially in rural and remote areas, of health-care services, as well as sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, bearing in mind the commitment to halving, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation as a means of fighting waterborne diseases; (g) Stressing the importance of multisectoral and inter-ministerial approaches in formulating and implementing national policies that are crucial for promoting and protecting health, and reiterating that Governments will play the central role, in collaboration with civil society organizations, including academia and the private sector, in implementing national strategies and action plans on social service delivery and in making progress towards ensuring more equitable health outcomes; (h) Improving national health governance, including through the participation of civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, as well as strengthening international support, as appropriate, in order to ensure that national health systems are sustainable, well prepared and capable of responding to challenges, including crises and pandemics; (i) Developing appropriate policies and actions to promote health education and literacy, including among young people, in order to address the lack of awareness about health and, in some cases, harmful practices which significantly inhibit women’s and children’s access to health-care services, and to ensure respect for human rights, promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as essential means of addressing the health of women and girls, and to address the stigmatization of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS; (j) Supporting the use of national data collection, monitoring and evaluation systems that can track sex-disaggregated access to health-care services and provide rapid feedback for improving the effectiveness and quality of health systems; (k) Strengthening the effectiveness of health systems and proven interventions to address evolving health challenges such as the increased incidence of non-communicable diseases, road traffic injuries and fatalities, and environmental and occupational health hazards; (l) Reviewing national recruitment, training and retention policies and developing national health workforce plans, based on lessons learned, that address the lack of health workers as well as their uneven distribution within countries, including in remote and rural areas, and throughout the world, which undermines the health systems of developing countries, in particular the shortage in Africa, and in this regard recognizing the importance of national and international actions to promote universal access to health-care services that take into account the challenges facing developing countries in the retention of skilled health personnel, in light of the adoption of the World Health Organization Global Code of Practice 19