Fried chicken and sugary drinks: Tanzania battles a growing obesity problem

**Lead**

Tanzania is confronting a new and unwelcome health emergency: obesity. Long seen as a country blighted by malnutrition and food insecurity, it is now recording rising numbers of overweight citizens, with health professionals pointing the finger at a combination of affordable fried chicken, sugary soft drinks, changing lifestyles and relentless urbanisation.

**Context**

The shift has been dramatic but not sudden. For decades, public health campaigns in Tanzania, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, focused on undernutrition, stunted growth and infectious disease. While those battles are far from over, a quieter transition has taken place on the plates of millions of Tanzanians. Street vendors in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza now do a roaring trade in deep-fried chicken, chips, mandazi and sweetened beverages, often at prices that undercut more traditional, healthier meals. In a country where time-poor urban workers need quick and cheap sustenance, the appeal is easy to understand — but the long-term cost is mounting.

Experts describe the situation as a classic nutrition transition. As incomes rise, people move from rural areas to cities, work becomes more sedentary and diets shift towards processed and energy-dense foods. Tanzania is experiencing this transition at remarkable speed. The World Health Organisation has warned that obesity is no longer a problem confined to wealthy nations. In many low- and middle-income countries, the rise in overweight and obesity now coexists with persistent undernutrition, creating a double burden that strains already limited healthcare resources.

What makes Tanzania particularly vulnerable is the aggressive marketing of sugary drinks and fast food. International beverage companies have expanded across Africa, while local manufacturers have also entered the market with cheap, high-sugar sodas. At the same time, the price of fresh produce is often prohibitive for low-income families, and refrigeration remains a luxury for many. The result is that the most affordable, accessible diet is frequently the least healthy.

The Tanzanian government has not been idle. A sugar tax was introduced in recent years as part of a broader effort to tackle non-communicable diseases, and there have been public awareness campaigns about healthy eating and physical activity. However, implementation has been inconsistent, and the beverage industry has pushed back. In many communities, sugary drinks are still perceived as a status symbol or a treat, and fried chicken is seen as a modern, aspirational food rather than a health risk. Changing those perceptions requires more than a tax; it requires sustained educational and cultural change.

**Analysis**

Why should the United Kingdom care about obesity trends in Tanzania? The honest answer is that Britain has already travelled much of this road, and there are lessons in both the successes and the failures of that journey. The United Kingdom has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe, and the same forces at work in Tanzania — cheap processed food, sugary drinks, urban sedentary living — have reshaped British diets over the past half-century. British policymakers have spent years debating sugar taxes, advertising bans and front-of-pack nutrition labels, with mixed results.

There is another connection that is more direct. Much of the fried chicken and processed food appearing in Tanzanian cities is produced by international companies, including British-based fast-food chains and food manufacturers. British consumers know the names on the menus well. The globalisation of taste has come at a cost, and that cost is now being paid in places that can least afford it. The same is true of diabetes and hypertension, which are rising sharply in Tanzania and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, placing unbearable strain on health systems that were already fragile.

The picture is not entirely bleak. Tanzania has an opportunity to act earlier than many nations did. It can introduce stricter regulation on junk food marketing to children, enforce clearer food labelling and invest in public spaces that make physical activity easier and safer. The government could also strengthen its sugar tax and use the revenue to subsidise fresh fruit and vegetables, making the healthy choice the affordable choice. But the window is narrow, and the commercial pressure is intense. Without decisive political will, Tanzania risks following the same pattern as the West, where obesity became entrenched before governments fully responded.

Ultimately, the story of Tanzanian obesity is not an isolated one. It is part of a global wave of dietary change that has been building for decades. Rich countries have seen their waistlines expand, and now low- and middle-income countries are experiencing the same shift at an accelerated pace. The question is not whether Tanzania is heading down a familiar road, but whether the international community, including Britain, will help it find a different route.

**Fontes**

World Health Organisation – obesity and non-communicable disease data for Africa; Tanzanian Ministry of Health published statements on the sugar tax and public health campaigns; research reports from the Lancet and other peer-reviewed journals on nutrition transition in sub-Saharan Africa; open information from the International Food Policy Research Institute on food environments in East Africa.