Objective
Identify the increase in the number of nutritionists in the Primary Health Care in Brazilian municipalities focusing on Family Health Teams and Support Centers for Family Health.
Methods
A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using secondary data for the number of nutritionists, their length of employment, type of teams established, their workplace, and the profile of Brazilian municipalities. The data were provided upon request by the Ministry of Health, based on the National Cadastre of Health Establishments in the period of 2007-2013. Descriptive statistics was used.
Results
The number of nutritionists increased over the years since more Brazilian municipalities hired these professionals. This increase was greater (around 700% between 2008 and 2013) in the Support Centers for Family Health, in which nutritionists are the third most common professionals, after psychologists and physiotherapists. A small proportion of nutritionists (6-15%) remained on their job for more than five years; this number varied according to the year and the type of team. The small-sized cities, located in the Northeastern region, with intermediate levels of Municipal Human Development Index, were the ones that hired more nutritionists. On the other hand, there was a smaller rate increase (75%) in the number of nutritionists hired to work in Basic Health Care Units/Health Centers (excluding those professionals for Family Health Strategy and Centers).
Conclusion
It was observed an increase in the number of nutritionists in the Primary Health Care and in the number of municipalities that hired these professionals, especially in the case of the Support Centers for Family Health. Maintaining this growth rate may change the proportion of nutritionists in Primary Health Care in relation to those working in other health care levels, such as secondary and tertiary health care.
Primary Health Care; Brazil; Family Health Strategy; Nutritionists; Public Health Nutrition
