Key data for Egypt

NCI30th HRCI18th HANCI25th
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.
Existing rates of: Stunting: 22.3% Wasting: 9.5% Proportion of population underweight: 9.5% Source: Government of Egypt (DHS,2014)

Strong Performance

  • The Government of Egypt promotes complementary feeding practices.
  • Strong access to an improved source of drinking water (99.3% in 2017) andan improved sanitation facility (94.2% in 2017) drives better hunger and nutrition outcomes in Egypt.
  • In Egypt 90.3% of women aged 15-49 were visited at least once during pregnancy by skilled health personnel in 2014.
  • In Egypt, constitutional protection of the right to food and the right to social security is strong.
  • Strong civil registration rates (99.4% in 2014) potentially enable children’s access to critical public services such as health and education.

Areas for improvement

  • Spending on agriculture (2.2% of public spending in 2017), does not meet government commitments set out in the African Union’s Maputo Declaration (10% of public spending).
  • Egypt’s spending in its health sector (5.4% of public spending in 2017) does not fully meet (15%) commitments set out in the Abuja Declaration.
  • In Egypt, the law does not give women economic rights equal to men. Men and women have equal legal access to agricultural land, but this is not effectively enforced and discriminatory practices against women continue, increasing their vulnerability to hunger and undernutrition.
  • Relative to other HANCI countries, Egypt’s medium/long term national development policy (Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt’s Vision 2030) places weak importance to nutrition.
  • Egypt does not yet have a National Nutrition Policy/Strategy.
  • Egypt has not introduced a multisectoral and multistakeholder policy coordination mechanism to support delivery of the National Nutrition Policy/Strategy.
  • Policymakers in Egypt do not benefit from regular nutrition surveys that are statistically representative at national level. The last survey was published in 2014.
  • The Government of Egypt has achieved two high doses of vitamin A supplementation for only 62% of children in 2014.
  • Social safety nets in Egypt 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
?
2.2%201736th
Public spending on health as share of total public spending
?
5.4%2017Joint 27th
Policies Score Year HRCI rank of 45
Access to land (security of tenure)
?
Moderate2019Joint 21st
Access to agricultural research and extension services
?
Moderate2019Joint 29th
Civil registration system — coverage of live births
?
99.4%20143rd
Functioning of social protection systems
?
Weak2018Joint 25th
Laws Score Year HRCI rank of 45
Level of constitutional protection of the right to food
?
Strong2016Joint 1st
Equality of women’s access to agricultural land
?
In Law, not in Practice2019Joint 37th
Equality of women’s economic rights
?
Not in Law2019Joint 16th
Constitutional right to social security
?
Yes2017Joint 1st

Nutrition Commitment Index (NCI)

Public Spending Score Year NCI rank of 45
Separate budget for nutrition
?
Sectoral only2017Joint 16th
Policies Score Year NCI rank of 45
Vitamin A supplementation coverage for children
?
62%2014Joint 25th
Government promotes complementary feeding
?
Yes2016Joint 1st
Population with access to an improved water source
?
99.3%20171st
Population with access to improved sanitation
?
94.2%20171st
Health care visits for pregnant women
?
90.3%201428th
Nutrition features in national development policy
?
Weak2016-203034th
National Nutrition Policy/Strategy
?
No2019Joint 33rd
Multisector and multistakeholder policy coordination
?
No2019Joint 36th
Time bound nutrition targets
?
Yes2019Joint 1st
National nutrition survey in last 3 years
?
No2014Joint 37th
Laws Score Year NCI rank of 45
Enshrine ICBMS in domestic law
?
Many Aspects Enshrined2019Joint 13th