Tanzania launches program to train health workers for chronic diseases

Amref Health Africa Tanzania and the Novo Nordisk Foundation launched a three-year program to train health students and professionals in Tanzania to manage chronic conditions.

The initiative aims to help 25,500 health students and 1,600 practicing health professionals develop skills to prevent, detect, and manage cardiometabolic diseases. These conditions include diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease.

The project addresses a need identified by Amref Tanzania, which found that current training curricula often teach these diseases in separate sections with limited practical learning opportunities. The program will support 113 health training institutions and establish two Centres of Excellence. These centers will serve as hubs for research and mentorship to improve teaching and clinical leadership.

The project focuses on four areas: improving education quality, strengthening the capacity of lecturers and mentors, expanding digital and simulation-based learning, and building institutional capacity for research. The partnership involves the Tanzanian government and various regulatory bodies to ensure the new training aligns with national health priorities. This effort comes as hypertension affects more than 25 per cent of Tanzanian adults and diabetes affects between three and five per cent of the population.

The program also aims to promote gender equality in professional development and leadership within the health workforce.