Background: Adults under the age of 70 in Sub-Saharan Africa face a higher probability of death from non-communicable diseases than adults of the same age in the Established Market Economies. A team from Andrews university in collaboration with the health unit of the Northeast Tanzania Conference (NETC), collaboratively conducted a community needs assessment and 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. Focus group discussions with the community also listed hypertension and diabetes as one of the major health problems.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of lifestyle conditions, namely hypertension and diabetes, and identify risk factors.

Methods: Blood pressure and glucose of 200 participants aged 25 years and above was evaluated using a survey method, in this exploratory study. Measures of body mass index, physical activity, blood pressure, blood glucose and risk factors including diet, smoking, drinking alcohol, was collected through measuring and face-to-face interviews administered to participants who were randomly selected. The cutoff point of 130 SBP and 120mg/dl glucose was used to distinguish those with and without a condition. Descriptive statistics was obtained, and data analyzed using Binary logistic regression in SPSS 26.

Results: Prevalence of 55 % for hypertension and 12% for diabetes was found. Continued data analysis is still underway, and complete results will be available by October 20.

Public Health significance: The findings of the study will be used for developing a lifestyle health program for the NETC.