O Mundo da Saúde (Mar 2021)
Temporal trend of the insertion of nutritionists in the Unified Health System according to regions of Brazil in the period from 2009 to 2018
Abstract
The scientific field of nutrition emerged with greater intensity at the beginning of the 20th century and is considered a relatively recent phenomenon. In Brazil, the training of a nutritionist began in the 1940s, when the first generation of medical nutritionists was obtained as well as the creation of the first four courses in the country. Studies on the insertion of nutritionists in the scope of UHS are scarce. Thus, this article aims to assess the temporal trend of the insertion of nutritionists in the Unified Health System from 2009 to 2018. This is an observational, descriptive study, carried out from secondary data provided by BIGS and NRHF. Data analysis made it possible to obtain the quantity and distribution of nutritionists by region/federation unit and year of competence. The data were tabulated using TabWin version 4.15, and the analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel 2016® and Stata 15.0 software. There was a temporal trend towards an increase in the number of nutritionists in the country, with a higher growth rate in the northeast region and a lower one in the southeast region, which registered the highest density of professionals. The northern region had the lowest number of nutritionists. It is believed that the profile observed may be related to the salary offered, specific characteristics, and the intensity of nutrition courses created in each region.
