AN UPGRADED DAR PORT A BOON FOR THE REGION

If we say so ourselves, the operational improvements being made to Dar es Salaam Port by the government and our development partners are cause for the port’s resurgence in Tanzania’s relatively rapid economic growth.

The improvements are, indeed, in line with China’s Belt and Road Initiative: a multifaceted and connectivity-oriented grand strategy to develop two new trade routes connecting China with the rest of the world – Tanzania not being left out of the developments.

Therefore, strategically upgrading Dar es Salaam Port (and, indeed, the country’s other seaports of Tanga and Mtwara, as well as the Bagamoyo Port that’s virtually in the development pipeline) will go far in serving Africa’s current regional infrastructure challenges as we seek to deepen regional and continental socio-econo-political integration.

As we reported in these pages last Saturday, the structural and other improvements which are steadily but surely being made to the country’s largest seaport are already bearing fruit.

This is especially in terms of renewed and/or increased use of the port by various clients, mostly external.

For example, the neighbouring country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is phenomenally rich in mineral resources has resumed exporting its copper to China and the Middle East through Dar es Salaam Port.

This comes after 15 long years of DRC’s “virtual absence” (for lack of a better phrase) from Dar es Salaam Port – thanks to improved cargo handling equipment and services at the port, resulting in enhanced security, as well as reduced port waiting time and costs.

Also, bigger ocean-going vessels can now dock at the port’s upgraded berths. Indeed, the ongoing upgrading is bound to bolster the port’s cargo-handling capacity in terms of quantities, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

All this is a boon not only for Tanzanians and their economy, but also for the six landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Zambia and Malawi – and must be encouraged by us all.

LET’S DO MORE ON DIABETES

Yesterday was World Diabetes Day (WDD), jointly proclaimed as such by the World Health Organisation and the International Diabetes Foundation on November 14, 1991 to create global awareness and spread education on the malady.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease whereby the pancreas does not produce insulin at all, or does not produce enough insulin to meet bodily requirements for healthy living – thus ending up with overly-high blood sugar in the body.

Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas to regulate the amount of glucose in the blood through carbohydrates metabolism. The lack of sufficiently-effective insulin leads to – and usually results in – serious health conditions, including “diabetes type-1,” and “diabetes type-2.”

While the former is more often than not hereditary, the latter is usually diet-induced, and is characterised by inadequate insulin secretion or its effectiveness caused by assorted living conditions.

But, perhaps the beauty of it all is that diabetes type-2 can be prevented, or controlled to enable one to continue normal living.

Yet, increasing exponentially, global diabetic cases reached 537 million in 2020. Hence, the World Diabetes Day on which to foster awareness and education on its prevention and control, as well as bolster access to diabetes care for all.