Countries | Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index

Key data for South Africa

Overview
Hunger Reduction
Nutrition
Performance summary

NCI15th HRCI11th HANCI9th

HANCI compares 45 developing countries for their performance on 22 indicators of political commitment to reduce hunger and undernutrition. All the countries compared in the index have high rates of hunger and undernutrition. The comparative approach of the index means that country scores are calculated in relation to the political commitment of the other countries in the index.

1Peru
2Guatemala
3Malawi
4Madagascar
5Brazil
6Philippines
7Burkina Faso

8Nepal
9South Africa
10Indonesia
10Rwanda
12Senegal
12Vietnam
14Bangladesh

14Gambia
16Mali
17Ghana
17India
19Tanzania
20Kenya
21Benin

22Uganda
23Niger
24Côte d'Ivoire
24Ethiopia
26Sierra Leone
27China
28Mozambique

29Cameroon
30Pakistan
30Zambia
32Cambodia
33Liberia
34Congo,DR
35Togo

36Mauritania
37Burundi
38Afghanistan
39Lesotho
40Nigeria
41Myanmar
42Yemen

43Angola
44Sudan
45Guinea‑Bissau

Existing rates of: Stunting: 23.90% Wasting: 4.7% Proportion of population underweight: 8.70% Source: Gov. of South Africa (NIDS, 2008)

Strong Performance

Government of South Africa has ensured tenure security for rural populations. Land titling is common and land markets function well. Policy promotes equitable access to common property resources.
South Africa instituted a separate budget line for nutrition, enabling transparency and accountability for spending.
South Africa has devised a National Nutrition Policy/Strategy.
The Government has fully enshrined the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into domestic law.
The Government of South Africa promotes complementary feeding practices.
95.1% of the population of South Africa in 2012 has access to an improved drinking water source.
In South Africa 97.1% of women aged 15-49 were visited at least once during pregnancy by skilled health personnel in 2008.
In South Africa, constitutional protection of the right to food and the right to social security is strong.

Areas for improvement

Spending on agriculture (1.61% of public spending in 2013), does not meet government commitments set out in the African Union’s Maputo Declaration (10% of public spending).
South Africa’s spending in its health sector (12.9% of public spending in 2012) is close to, yet not fully meeting government commitments set out in the African Union's Abuja Declaration (15% of public spending).
In South Africa, the law gives women and men equal economic rights and equal legal access to agricultural land. However, these laws are not effectively enforced and discriminatory practices against women continue, increasing their vulnerability to hunger and undernutrition.
Relative to other HANCI countries, South Africa's medium/long term national development policy (National Dev Plan: Vision for 2030) places weak importance to nutrition.
Even though South Africa has developed a National Nutrition Policy/Strategy and clear time-bound nutrition targets, a multisectoral and multistakeholder policy coordination mechanism is still lacking.
Policymakers in South Africa do not benefit from regular nutrition surveys that are statistically representative at national level. The last survey was published in 2003.
The Government of South Africa has only achieved two high doses of vitamin A supplementation for 42% of children in 2013.

Hunger Reduction Commitment Index (HRCI)

Public Spending	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Public spending on agriculture as share of total public spending ? 2007-2013 Government expenditures on agriculture as share of total government expenditures (Percentage). Color codes or labels used in score cards: Green if >=10 Yellow if <10 and >=7.5 Red if <7.5 IFPRI (SPEED) and ReSAKSS calculations using IMF Government Statistics http://data.ifpri.org/lod/indicator http://www.resakss.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ReSAKSS_AW_ATOR_2012_FINAL.pdf	1.61%	2013	40th
Public spending on health as share of total public spending ? 2012 Government expenditure on health as a share of total government expenditure (Percentage). Color codes or labels used in score cards: Green if >=15 Yellow if <15 and >=11.25 Red if <11.25 WHO Global Health Observatory Data Repository http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.75?lang=en	12.9%	2012	10th

Policies	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Access to land (security of tenure) ? 2013 Assesses the existence of an institutional, legal and market framework for secure land tenure and the procedure for land acquisition and accessibility to all. The Ratings Scale goes from 6 (high) through 1 (low), as follows: 6 - Good for an 3 years 5 - Good 4 - Moderately Satisfactory 3 - Moderately Unsatisfactory 2 - Unsatisfactory 1 - Unsatisfactory for 3 years Color code/labels used in scorecards Very strong/Strong if >=4 Moderate if >2.99 AND <4 Weak/Very weak if <=2.99 The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/IFD.xlsx	Strong	2013	10th
Access to agricultural research and extension services ? 2013 This indicator assesses to what extent the agricultural research and extension system is accessible to poor farmers, including women farmers, and is responsive to the needs and priorities of the poor farmers. Coding is done in the same manner as for the 'security of access to land' indicator. Color code/labels used in scorecards Very strong/Strong if >=4 Moderate if >2.99 AND <4 Weak/Very weak if <=2.99 The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/IFD.xlsx	Moderate	2013	35th
Civil registration system — coverage of live births ? 2001-2014 Percentage of children under five years of age who were registered at the moment of the survey. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if between 70 AND 90 Red if <=70 UNICEF: DHS/MICS http://www.childinfo.org/birth_registration_tables.php	85.0%	2012	7th
Functioning of social protection systems ? 2008-2014 10 = Social safety nets are comprehensive. 7 = Social safety nets are well developed, but do not cover all risks for all strata of the population. 4 = Social safety nets are rudimentary and cover only few risks for a limited number of beneﬁciaries. 1 = Social safety nets do not exist. Color code/labels used in scorecards Very strong/Strong if >=7 Moderate if >4 AND <7 Weak/Very weak if <=4 Transformation Index of the Bertelsmann Stiftung (BTI) http://www.bti-project.org/index/	Moderate	2014	2nd

Laws	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Level of constitutional protection of the right to food ? 2006-2013 Strong = 3 "Explicit for all citizens and/or specific groups or incorporated under article protecting living standards AND/OR Ratified international law is automatically assigned equal status as constitutional law" Moderate = 2 "Implicit as part of a broader right in constitutional law." Weak = 1 "No constitutional protection, OR as Directive Principle (not justiceable) OR Likely or confirmed equality of ratified international law to national legislation" FAO information paper http://www.fao.org/docrep/MEETING/007/J0574E.HTM	Strong	2011	1st
Equality of women’s access to agricultural land ? 2014 Score based on women’s legal rights and de facto rights to own and/or access agricultural land. Value based on the following scale: 1: equal 0.5: Women have equal legal rights but there are discriminatory practices against women’s access to and ownership of land in practice. 0: Women have no/few legal rights to access or own land or access is severely restricted by discriminatory practices. (note: in HANCI calculation, this scoring is reversed for consistency) Color code/labels used in scorecards In Law & Practice if 1 In Law, not in Practice if 0.5 Not in Law if 0 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) accessed via OECD's Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB) http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=GIDDB2012#	In Law, not in Practice	2014	4th
Equality of women’s economic rights ? 2011 The extent to which women have equal economic rights in law and in practice. 0: there were no economic rights for women in law and systematic discrimination based on sex may have been built into law. 1: women had some economic rights under law, but these rights were not effectively enforced. 2: women had some economic rights under law, and the government effectively enforced these rights in practice while still allowing a low level of discrimination against women in economic matters. 3: all or nearly all of women’s economic rights were guaranteed by law and the government fully and vigorously enforces these laws in practice. Color code/labels used in scorecards In Law & Practice if 3 In Law, not in Practice if 1 OR 2 Not in Law if 0 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Data Project http://humanrightsdata.org/	Not Enforced	2011	5th
Constitutional right to social security ? 2006 The Constitution clearly references a right to social security (see Annex II of the source document). Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" FAO information paper http://www.fao.org/docrep/MEETING/007/J0574E.HTM	Yes	2006	1st

Nutrition Commitment Index (NCI)

Public Spending	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Separate budget for nutrition ? 2012-2014 0 = no budgets or where no confirming information could be found 0.5 = sectoral budgets for nutrition 1 = separate budget line for nutrition Color codes or labels used in score cards: Yes if 1 Sectoral only if 0.5 No if 0 SUN country summary reports (not in public domain); SUN country fiche; IDS Nutrition Governance; Save the Children Nutrition Barometer; WHO Landscape Analysis. http://www.ids.ac.uk/nutritiongovernance http://scalingupnutrition.org/	Yes	2014	1st

Policies	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Vitamin A supplementation coverage for children ? 2011-2013 The percentage of children aged 6-59 months who received 2 high doses of vitamin A supplements within the last year. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 MICS4 Indicators, UNICEF field offices and WHO, Countdown 2015 reports, author calculations based on country DHS data http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_countrystats.html	42.0%	2013	39th
Government promotes complementary feeding ? 2010-2014 Whether governments promote complementary feeding practices of children aged 6–9 months and continued breastfeeding of children at ages 12–15 and 20–23 months. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" Sun Reports/world breast feeding trends initiative http://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/docs/INDICATOR-1.pdf	Yes	2010	1st
Population with access to an improved water source ? 2012 The percentage of population with access to an improved drinking-water source. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for water supply and Sanitation - WHO/UNICEF http://www.wssinfo.org/data-estimates/table/	95.1%	2012	2nd
Population with access to improved sanitation ? 2011-2012 The percentage of population with access to improved sanitation facilities. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for water supply and Sanitation - WHO/UNICEF http://www.wssinfo.org/data-estimates/table/	74.4%	2012	5th
Health care visits for pregnant women ? 2006-2013 Percentage of women aged 15–49 years attended at least once during pregnancy by skilled health personnel (doctor, nurse or midwife). Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 UNICEF: DHS/MICS http://data.unicef.org/	97.1%	2008	5th
Nutrition features in national development policy ? 2013-2014 The total count of key search terms in a selected policy document divided by the number of pages in the document. Search terms: nutritio.; undernutrition/under-nutrition; malnutrition/mal-nutrition nutrient; diet.; stunt.; wasting/wasted; short-for-age; short for age; height-for-age; height for age; weight-for-age; weight for age; weight for height; weight-for-height; Underweight; under-weight; Low birth weight; Thinness; Micro-nutrient; micronutrient; 1000 days; one thousand days; Breastfeed.; Behavior change; behaviour change; Iron deficiency anaemi/anemi; Zinc; Deworm; de-worm; Vitamin A; Supplementary feed; complementary feed. Color code/labels used in scorecards are based on the ranks of these scores Strong if rank <=15 Moderate if rank 16 to 30 Weak if rank >=31 Web-based searches. See appendix AH in HANCI 2012 report for a list of documents consulted for each country.	Weak	2013	42nd
National Nutrition Policy/Strategy ? 2012-2014 Whether a national nutrition policy, plan or strategy exists. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" EIU Global Food Security Index http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/	Yes	2014	1st
Multisector and multistakeholder policy coordination ? 2012-2014 Whether a multisectoral and multistakeholder coordination mechanism exists. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" SUN fiches/Country docs and unpublished SUN country documents http://scalingupnutrition.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/archived/compendiurm-of-country-fiches-ROME-VERSION.pdf	No	2014	39th
Time bound nutrition targets ? 2012-2014 Whether governments identify time bound nutrition targets in public policy documents. Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" Sun 2.2, 2.3, / Save the children nutrition barometer http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/Data_for_Nutrition_Barometer_0.pdf	Yes	2014	1st
National nutrition survey in last 3 years ? 2012-2014 Has there been a Demographic and Health Survey / Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey /comparable national nutrition survey in the past three years? 1: Yes if the survey was dated 2009 or thereafter, or currently underway. 0: No new survey undertaken after 2009 Color code/labels used in scorecards Green if "yes" Red if "no" UNICEF, DHS and national nutrition surveys http://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm http://mics.unicef.org/surveys	No	2014	34th

Laws	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Enshrine ICBMS in domestic law ? 2014 The extent to which the International Code for Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is enshrined in law. 9 = ICBMS is fully in law. 8 = Many provisions of ICBMS are in law. 7 = Few provisions are in law. 6 = Voluntary adoption of all, or nearly all provisions of the ICBMS. 5 = Some provisions voluntary. 4 = Measure drafted awaiting final approval. 3 = Being studied. 2 = Action to end free breastmilk substitutes. 1 = No action. Color code/labels used in scorecards Fully Enshrined if 9 Voluntary Adoption/Aspects Enshrined if 5 to 8 Not Enshrined in Law if 1 to 4 Unicef (unpublished) data accessed via Global Nutrition Report (2014) http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/State_of_the_Code_by_Country_April2011.pdf	Fully enshrined	2014	1st