Intensification of efforts to end obstetric fistula A/RES/73/147 and principles for developing fistula prevention and treatment programmes, as appropriate; (h) Mobilizing funding to provide free or adequately subsidized maternal health-care and obstetric fistula repair and treatment services, including by encouraging networking among providers and the sharing of new treatment techniques and protocols to protect women’s and children’s well-being and survival and to prevent the recurrence of subsequent fistulas by making post-surgery followup and the tracking of fistula patients a routine and key component of all fistula programmes, and also to ensure access to elective caesarean sections for fistula survivors who become pregnant again in order to prevent fistula recurrence and to increase the chances of survival of mother and baby in all subsequent pregnancies; (i) Increasing national budgets and harnessing domestic resources for health, ensuring that adequate funds are allocated to prevent obstetric fistula and to treat existing cases, and for strengthening the capacity of health-care systems to provide the essential services needed in this regard; (j) Ensuring that all women and girls who have undergone fistula treatment, including the forgotten women and girls whose conditions are deemed incurable or inoperable, are provided with and have access to comprehensive health -care services, holistic social integration services and careful follow-up, including counselling, education, family planning, socioeconomic empowerment, social protection and psychosocial services, for as long as needed, through, inter alia, skills development, family and community support and income-generating activities, so that they can overcome abandonment, stigma, ostracism and economic and social exclusion, and developing linkages with civil society organizations and women’s and girls’ empowerment programmes so as to help to achieve this goal; (k) Empowering fistula survivors to make informed decisions about their liv es and to contribute to community sensitization and mobilization as advocates for fistula elimination, safe motherhood and newborn survival, and supporting the exercise of their voice, agency and leadership; (l) Accelerating efforts to improve the health of women and girls globally, with an increased focus on social determinants that affect their well -being and that include the provision of universal access to quality education for women and girls, economic empowerment, with access to microcredit, savings and microfinancing, legal reforms, the promotion and support of their meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels, and social initiatives, including legal literacy to protect women and girls from violence and discrimination, child, early and forced marriage and early pregnancy; (m) Educating individual women and men, girls and boys, communities, policymakers and health professionals about how obstetric fistula can be prevented and treated, and increasing awareness of the needs of pregnant wom en and girls, as well as of those who have undergone surgical fistula repair, including their right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health, by working with community and religious leaders, traditional birth attendants and midwives, women and girls who have suffered from fistula, the media, social workers, civil society, women’s organizations, influential public figures and policymakers; (n) Enhancing the participation of men and adolescent boys in the intensification of efforts to end obstetric fistula and further strengthening their involvement as partners, including in the global Campaign to End Fistula; 18-22184 7/8