Countries | Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index Africa

Key data for São Tomé and Príncipe

NCI41st HRCI8th HANCI28th

HANCI-Africa compares 45 African 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.

1South Africa
2Malawi
3Egypt
4Madagascar
5Cape Verde
6Tanzania
7Burkina Faso

7Kenya
9Rwanda
10Mali
11Senegal
12Côte d’Ivoire
12Niger
12Zimbabwe

15Tunisia
16The Gambia
17Ghana
17Mauritania
17Swaziland
20Uganda
21Burundi

22Botswana
23Cameroon
24Namibia
24Zambia
26Benin
26Ethiopia
28São Tomé and Príncipe

29Congo, DR
30Algeria
30Morocco
32Sudan
33Mozambique
34Gabon
35Sierra Leone

36Nigeria
37Angola
38Chad
39Togo
40Lesotho
41Guinea‑Bissau
42Liberia

43Congo
44Guinea
45Comoros

Existing rates of: Stunting: 17.2% Wasting: 4% Proportion of population underweight: 4% Source: Government of São Tomé and Príncipe (MICS, 2014)

Strong Performance

São Tomé and Príncipe has devised a National Nutrition Policy/Strategy.
Policymakers in São Tomé and Príncipe benefit from regular nutrition surveys that are statistically representative at national level. The last survey was published in 2014.
95.1% of the population of São Tomé and Príncipe in 2015 has access to an improved drinking water source.
In São Tomé and Príncipe 97.5% of women aged 15-49 were visited at least once during pregnancy by skilled health personnel in 2014.
In São Tomé and Príncipe, constitutional protection of the right to social security is strong.
Strong civil registration rates (95.2% in 2014) potentially enable children’s access to critical public services such as health and education.

Areas for improvement

Spending on agriculture (8.5% of public spending in 2016) is close to, yet not fully meeting government commitments set out in the African Union’s Maputo Declaration (10% of public spending).
São Tomé and Príncipe’s spending in its health sector (10.7% of public spending in 2015) does not fully meet (15%) commitments set out in the Abuja Declaration.
In São Tomé and Príncipe, 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.
Even though São Tomé and Príncipe has developed a National Nutrition Policy/Strategy, clear time-bound nutrition targets and a multisectoral and multistakeholder policy coordination mechanism are still lacking.
The Government of São Tomé and Príncipe has not enshrined the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into domestic law.
The Government of São Tomé and Príncipe does not promote complementary feeding practices and has achieved two high doses of vitamin A supplementation for only 42% of children in 2015.
Weak access to improved sanitation facilities (40.1% in 2015) obstructs better hunger and nutrition outcomes.
Social safety nets in São Tomé and Príncipe are basic and only cover few risks for a limited number of beneficiaries.

Hunger Reduction Commitment Index (HRCI)

Public Spending	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Public spending on agriculture as share of total public spending ? 2013-2016 Government expenditures on agriculture as share of total government expenditures (Percentage). Colour codes or labels used in score cards: Green if >=10 Yellow if <10 and >=7.5 Red if <7.5 none if no benchmark IFPRI (SPEED database), ReSAKSS calculations using IMF Government Statistics, African Union calculations http://www.resakss.org/map http://www.ifpri.org/publication/statistics-public-expenditures-economic-development-speed https://www.tralac.org/news/article/12651	8.5%	2016	12th
Public spending on health as share of total public spending ? 2015 Government expenditure on health as a share of total government expenditure (Percentage). Colour codes or labels used in score cards: Green if >=15 Yellow if <15 and >=11.25 Red if <11.25 none if no benchmark WHO Global Health Observatory Data Repository http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.GHEDGGHEDGGESHA2011	10.7%	2015	Joint 10th

Policies	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Access to land (security of tenure) ? 2005-2016 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 Colour 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	2016	Joint 25th
Access to agricultural research and extension services ? 2004-2013 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. Colour 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) https://www.ifad.org/	Moderate	2013	26th
Civil registration system — coverage of live births ? 2010-2016 Percentage of children under five years of age who were registered at the moment of the survey. Colour code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if between 70 AND 90 Red if <=70 UNICEF: DHS/MICS http://data.unicef.org/	95.2%	2014	5th
Functioning of social protection systems ? 2010-2016 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. Colour 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/	Weak	2014	Joint 41st

Laws	Score	Year	HRCI rank of 45
Level of constitutional protection of the right to food ? 2014-2017 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 justiciable) OR Likely or confirmed equality of ratified international law to national legislation’ FAO information paper and FAO web database on Right to Food. http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap554e/ap554e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-a0511e.pdf http://www.fao.org/right-to-food-around-the-globe/	Moderate	2017	Joint 8th
Equality of women’s access to agricultural land ? 2011-2014 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: HANCI calculation has reversed the original score for consistency.) Colour 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 http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?datasetcode=GIDDB2014	In Law, not in Practice	2013	Joint 1st
Equality of women’s economic rights ? 2011-2014 Score based on women’s economic rights at work (equal pay, job security, work at night, etc.). Value based on the following scale: 1: All women’s economic rights are guaranteed by law. In practice, the government fully and vigorously enforces these laws. 0.5: There are some economic rights for women under law. The enforcement of laws is effective or weak. However, the government still tolerates a low/moderate level of discrimination against women. 0: There are no economic rights for women under law and systematic discrimination based on sex may be built into the law. (note: HANCI calculation has reversed the original score for consistency.) Colour 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=GIDDB2014	In Law, not in Practice	2011	Joint 1st
Constitutional right to social security ? 2006-2017 The Constitution clearly references a right to social security (see Annex II of the source document). Green if ‘yes’ Red if ‘no’ FAO information paper http://www.fao.org/3/a-a0511e.pdf	Yes	2017	Joint 1st

Nutrition Commitment Index (NCI)

Public Spending	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Separate budget for nutrition ? 2012-2017 0 = no budgets or where no confirming information could be found 0.5 = sectoral budgets for nutrition 1 = separate budget line for nutrition Colour codes or labels used in score cards: Yes if 1 Sectoral only if 0.5 No if 0 SUN Compendium of fiches; IDS Nutrition Governance; Save the Children Nutrition Barometer; WHO Landscape Analysis; Global Nutrition Report (N4G tracking tables). http://globalnutritionreport.org/ http://scalingupnutrition.org/	Sectoral only	2013	Joint 17th

Policies	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Vitamin A supplementation coverage for children ? 1996-2015 The percentage of children aged 6-59 months who received 2 high doses of vitamin A supplements within the last year. Colour code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 MICS Indicators, UNICEF field offices and WHO, Countdown 2015 reports, author calculations based on government data https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/vitamin-a-deficiency/	42%	2015	Joint 35th
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. Green if ‘yes’ Red if ‘no’ Sun Reports; world breast feeding trends initiative http://worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/ http://scalingupnutrition.org/	No	2014	Joint 42nd
Population with access to an improved water source ? 2014-2017 The percentage of population with access to an improved drinking-water source. Colour 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 https://washdata.org/data	95.1%	2015	6th
Population with access to improved sanitation ? 2014-2017 The percentage of population with access to improved (not shared) sanitation facilities. Colour 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 https://washdata.org/data	40.1%	2015	18th
Health care visits for pregnant women ? 2007-2017 Percentage of women aged 15–49 years attended at least once during pregnancy by skilled health personnel (doctor, nurse or midwife). Colour code/labels used in scorecards Green if >=90 Yellow if >70 AND <90 Red if <=70 UNICEF: DHS/MICS https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/antenatal-care/	97.5%	2014	5th
Nutrition features in national development policy ? 2017 Source: Web-based searches. The total count of key search terms in a selected policy document divided by the number of pages in the document, expressed as country ranking relative to other countries. 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. Scorecards present the ranks of these scores Strong if rank <=15 Moderate if rank 16 to 30 Weak if rank >=31 web-based searches.	Moderate	2012-2016	30th
National Nutrition Policy/Strategy ? 2013-2017 Whether a national nutrition policy, plan or strategy exists. Green if ‘yes’ Red if ‘no’ EIU Global Food Security Index http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/	Yes	2013	Joint 1st
Multisector and multistakeholder policy coordination ? 2012-2017 Whether a multisectoral and multistakeholder coordination mechanism exists. Green if ‘yes’ Red if ‘no’ SUN fiches/Country docs and unpublished SUN country documents http://scalingupnutrition.org/	No	2017	Joint 35th
Time bound nutrition targets ? 2011-2017 Whether governments identify time bound nutrition targets in public policy documents. Green if ‘yes’ Red if ‘no’ SUN Movement Annual Progress Reports, Global Nutrition Report http://globalnutritionreport.org/ http://scalingupnutrition.org/	No	2017	Joint 39th
National nutrition survey in last 3 years ? 2017 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 2013 or thereafter, or currently underway. 0: No, new surveys were not undertaken after 2013. UNICEF, DHS and national nutrition surveys http://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm http://mics.unicef.org/surveys	Yes	2014	Joint 1st

Laws	Score	Year	NCI rank of 45
Enshrine ICBMS in domestic law ? 2016 The extent to which the International Code for Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is enshrined in law. 4 = ICBMS is fully in law. 3 = Many provisions of ICBMS are in law. 2 = Few provisions are in law. 1 = No legal measures. Colour code/labels used in scorecards Fully Enshrined if 4 Few/Many Aspects Enshrined if 2 or 3 Not Enshrined in Law if 1 World Health Organization, UNICEF and IBFAN http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/206008	Not Enshrined in Law	2016	Joint 33rd