24 INTEGRATING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INTO THE WORK OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS OF THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION contributed to a wider recognition of the right to health. It also resulted in some important changes in national health practice including national distribution of supplements to pregnant women; nutrition education; and improved mother and child health services in rural areas. During the year 1999-2000, the Commission examined the observations and recommendations of the CEDAW Committee before which the Government of India had presented its first country report, and recommended several steps that the Indian Government should take to reduce maternal anaemia. It recommended, in particular, the gender sensitization of health workers, and a specifically targeted health care campaign to combat discrimination against girls and women with regard to access to nutrition so as to effectively combat maternal anaemia. It also recommended the strengthening of the National Reproductive and Child Health Programme and called for concerted efforts to upscale the National Nutritional Anaemia Control Programme from the point of view of bringing down maternal mortality and low birth weight amongst children. India: Integrating rights into population policy In 2003, the National Human Rights Commission of India, in collaboration with UNFPA and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, organized a “Colloquium on Population Policy – Development and Human Rights”. The Colloquium adopted a Declaration and recommended that the State Governments and Union Territories should exclude discriminatory and coercive measures from their population policies. The Declaration acknowledged that reproductive rights, set on the foundation of dignity and integrity of an individual, encompass several aspects such as: the right to informed decision-making, free from fear of discrimination; the right to regular accessible, affordable, good quality and reliable health care; the right to medical assistance and counselling for the choice of birth control methods appropriate for the individual couple; and the right to sexual and reproductive security, free from gender-based violence. The report of the Colloquium can be accessed at http://india.unfpa.org/drive/ColloquiumReport.pdf . The Commission has continued its work on population policy. In 2006, for example, it established a Working Group to examine State Population Policies in the light of the National Population Policy. Its report called for adopting a rights approach to population stabilization that should be based on the principles of choice, equity and quality of care. Malaysia: Involvement in development of national policy on reproductive and social health The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia was involved in consultation for the development of a national policy on reproductive and social health. While not all the Commission’s recommendations were accepted, its involvement helped to strengthen the link between reproductive issues and human rights. The Commission also identified several matters that had come to its attention as issues of concern that should be reflected in the population policy. These included the stigma around unwed motherhood leading to procurement of unsafe abortions by adolescents and abandonment of babies. The Commission subsequently provided recommendations to the Government on how these problems could be effectively addressed in a way that promotes human rights.