Samia Suluhu Hassan became the only female head of government in Africa when her predecessor suddenly died. She is setting up a new course.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania this month at Chamwino State House in the capital, Dodoma.Credit...Malin Fezehai for The New York Times

DODOMA, Tanzania — Shortly before midnight on a spring night last year, Samia Suluhu Hassan, then Tanzania’s first female vice president, appeared on television to announce to a shocked nation that the president was dead.

President John Magufuli, an autocrat known as The Bulldozer, had denied that coronavirus existed in his country, rejected Covid vaccines, and died after a weekslong absence from public view amid unconfirmed reports that he had contracted the virus.

His death catapulted Ms. Hassan to a historic position as Tanzania’s first female president. Known as Mama Samia, she is currently the only female head of government in sub-Saharan Africa. On Friday, she met in Washington with a fellow path-breaker, Kamala Harris, the first woman and first woman of color to be vice president of the United States.

Since taking office, Ms. Hassan has set off on a different path than her predecessor: She encouraged Covid vaccinations by publicly taking the shot herself, lifted a ban on pregnant girls in schools, and began to amend some Magufuli-era economic regulations to lure back investors.

But her first challenge, Ms. Hassan said in an interview last week at the state house in the capital, Dodoma, was to overcome the notion that a woman could not lead Tanzania.

“Most of the people couldn’t believe that we can have a woman president and she can deliver,” Ms. Hassan said. “The challenge was to create trust to the people that yes, I can do it.”