2020-2021 Faculty Research Grants
Sozina Katuli (Physical Therapy)
The Prevalence of Lifestyle Diseases among Adult Males and Females in Kihurio Village Same Tanzania: A Community Health Assessment
Adults under the age of 70 in Sub-Saharan Africa face a higher probability of death from a non-communicable disease than adults of the same age in the Established Market Economies. A team of a faculty and students at Andrews in collaboration with the health unit of the North East Tanzania Conference (NETC) collaboratively conducted a community needs assessment and awareness campaign on lifestyle diseases in Kihurio village in December 2017. This exercise showed that more than half of people who gathered for the assessment had hypertension. During focus group discussions with the community hypertension and diabetes was listed as one of the major health problems. The village community is practicing intensive farming activities all year round, therefore, expected to have higher level of physical activity which is known to be protective of hypertension. Our team would like to investigate further the actual prevalence and factors contributing to hypertension. The findings of the study will be used for developing a lifestyle health program for the NETC.