Tanzania has launched a three-year programme to prepare its health workforce for rising cases of diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses, targeting 25,500 health students and 1,600 practising professionals, Daily News reports. The initiative is being implemented by Amref Health Africa Tanzania in partnership with the Novo Nordisk Foundation and will cover 113 health training institutions. It also includes the creation of two Centres of Excellence to strengthen teaching and clinical skills in cardiometabolic disease.
The programme was announced in Dar es Salaam and follows a scoping exercise by Amref Tanzania that examined how nurses and clinical officers are taught to handle these conditions.
Why it matters
Nurses and clinical officers are the backbone of primary healthcare in Tanzania, staffing dispensaries, health centres and district facilities where most patients first seek care. If their training leaves gaps in chronic disease prevention and management, those gaps show up at the front line of the health system.
The scale of the problem is significant. According to figures cited in the programme's background information, more than a quarter of Tanzanian adults have hypertension, while diabetes prevalence is estimated at between three and five per cent. Cardiometabolic diseases, a group that includes cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, kidney disease, obesity and other metabolic disorders, can cause serious complications, disability and premature death when they are not caught and managed early.
At the same time, the health system must keep responding to infectious diseases and other public health challenges, which adds to the pressure on limited resources and staff.
What the scoping exercise found
The assessment conducted by Amref Tanzania identified several weaknesses in current training. Diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease were often taught as separate subjects within curricula, with few chances for students to practise what they learned. The review also pointed to limited specialised teaching capacity, thin clinical mentorship and underuse of digital learning tools.
The new programme is designed to address those gaps across four main areas. It will work on improving the quality and relevance of cardiometabolic disease education, strengthen the abilities of lecturers and clinical mentors, expand digital and simulation-based learning, and build institutional capacity for education and implementation research.
The two Centres of Excellence are expected to act as hubs for research, mentorship and knowledge-sharing, helping improved teaching methods spread to other training institutions. The programme will also support curriculum reviews, professional development for teaching staff, and wider access to online and blended learning. Simulation-based training and digital tools are meant to give students more opportunities to apply classroom knowledge to real clinical situations.
Beyond teaching, the initiative will promote gender equality in professional development and leadership, acknowledging the contribution of women to Tanzania's health workforce, particularly in nursing and allied health professions.
Partners frame the investment
Denmark's Ambassador to Tanzania, Jesper Kammersgaard, said the partnership showed how international collaboration can strengthen the country's health sector, describing the shared commitment, expertise and cooperation behind the effort as a strong example of what such work can achieve.
Professor Flemming Konradsen, Chief Scientific Officer at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, said investing in the institutions that educate health professionals is essential to reducing inequalities in healthcare. He said the long-term institutional approach would strengthen teaching, research and clinical leadership capacity while giving nurses, clinicians and other professionals the competencies to prevent and manage cardiometabolic diseases more effectively.
Dr Samwel Lazaro, Director of Preventive Services at the Ministry of Health, represented the Chief Medical Officer of the United Republic of Tanzania at the launch. He said cooperation between the government, health training institutions, regulatory bodies and implementing partners is essential for lasting improvements, and that success should ultimately be visible in the competencies of graduates, the quality of clinical training and the care delivered to communities.
Amref Tanzania Country Director Dr Florence Temu thanked the government for its leadership and the Novo Nordisk Foundation for supporting the initiative, according to Daily News.
The programme will be delivered with the government, universities, health training institutions, regulatory bodies and other partners so that changes in education line up with national health priorities. It is expected to complement existing government strategies on non-communicable disease prevention and control and efforts to strengthen primary healthcare.
What to watch
The test will be whether the investment translates into measurable change: revised curricula in use, lecturers and mentors trained, and graduates who can spot risk factors and early warning signs and manage these conditions confidently in everyday practice. Watch for the two Centres of Excellence to open and for the first cohort of students to move through the updated training.
