For decades the global and national policymakers’ concern in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) including Tanzania has been on the enormous impact of malnourishment and infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs. While prospects of eliminating these conditions ‘grim’, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancers are now recognized as new ‘silent killers’. For example, 20% of all deaths in Tanzania in 2005 were attributable to NCDs. Propelling the upsurge in cases of these ‘new’ diseases is the growing prevalence of overweight, which has joined underweight and infectious diseases as major health challenges. If the pace of overweight is not thoroughly checked, NCDs are projected to overwhelm the health system which is already struggling with unrelenting infectious diseases and undernourishment. This situation poses a challenge to government as to the type of interventions that are needed.
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