The Double Burden of Disease in Tanzania

Arlene Silva, summarized from www.id21.org
2001-07-02

Tanzanians are now at high risk of dying from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria (according to id21.org)

In an effort to determine the impact of non-communicable diseases in Tanzania, the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and the UK University of Newcastle established the Adult Morbidity and Mortality Project (AMMP). The AMMP found that despite high mortality rates from infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria, Tanzanians are also at high risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. Furthermore, stroke death rates among 15-64 year olds were higher in the towns of Morogoro, Hai and Dar es Sallam than in England and Wales between 1992 and 1995.

Here are more alarming findings:

*During the 1990�s, daily insulin treatment cost $0.78 per day. Meanwhile, approximately 42% of Tanzanians lived on less than $0.75 per day.
*In 1992, a year�s treatment for a diabetic far exceeded Tanzania�s annual per capita health budget.
*Obesity is prevalent in poor and middle income urban areas.
*Due to the low price of cigarettes, increasing numbers of Tanzanians now smoke.

These results highlight the urgent nature of the cardiovascular disease epidemic. To properly address this crisis, the global community will need to implement culturally appropriate and cost-effective prevention programs, appropriate national policy, and public education about risk factors and prevention strategies.

To read the full text of �The worst of two worlds. Adult mortality in Tanzania,� written by Henry Kitange et al, please visit the id21.org web site at: http://www.id21.org/