The Tanzanian recipe for impact - access to care for people living with diabetes in LMICs

An estimated 1 in 8 of adults among Tanzania’s 64 million population are living with diabetes. More than half of those are undiagnosed. A 2017 external evaluation of WDF-supported projects in Tanzania concluded that, on average, there were 526 more diabetes patients and 1,224 more hypertension patients under treatment per district per month in districts where WDF programmes were implemented, compared to districts not yet enrolled.  

The current WDF Tanzania programme, running from 2021 until 2025, aims to reach 2.5 million diabetes patients and 5 million hypertension patients with improved care, training of staff in 702 health centres, reaching 2,880 health care providers and providing NCD screening starter kits to improve the ability of health facilities to diagnose and manage NCDs effectively.

For the past seven years, WDF has worked in direct partnership with the Tanzanian Diabetes Association, the Ministry of Health, and the President's Office for Regional Administration and Local Government. The 'Tanzania National NCD Programme - Phase II' is the newest addition to this collaboration, launched in 2019 with additional funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

To date, WDF has supported 17 projects in Tanzania aiming to strengthen care for diabetes and other NCDs with almost 13 million USD, of which 6 million was granted in 2019 for the ongoing second phase. Through this support, more than 7,000 healthcare providers have been trained, and 260,000 patients have been registered and received treatment at the supported clinics. On-line training modules have been developed for different cadres of healthcare providers to ensure continuous professional development and overcoming the challenges of staff attrition. These on-line courses have been accredited with respective professional councils. Finally, treatment and referral guidelines have been developed and rolled out in the public healthcare system supporting a change also at organisational level.