Two out of three municipalities do not have nutritionists on their staff, according to a study by the Order of Nutritionists, which advocates a reinforcement of these teams for the expansion of powers of the municipalities.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of the Order of Nutritionists, Alexandra Bento, acknowledges that the Portuguese municipalities “have registered an evolution, with a growing trend, in terms of nutritionists on their staff, but that clearly must be accelerated”.
“Looking at the 2013 data, we saw that around 12% of the municipalities had nutritionists working and, in this year’s data, one out of every three municipalities has a nutritionist. But we can put it another way and say that two out of three municipalities don’t have them,” he said.
The official highlights the expansion of powers of the municipalities, especially in the area of school feeding, and asks that the entry of these professionals be accelerated: “we are satisfied with the growing trend of nutritionists in the municipalities, but clearly this integration has to be accelerated , since these professionals can work to improve the health of the population through food”.
According to a study by the Observatory of the Profession of the Order of Nutritionists on the integration of these professionals in the municipalities, which will be presented this Wednesday, of the 308 municipalities, there are 189 without nutritionists.
“The skills assigned in the context of school feeding management, as well as health promotion programs, require qualified health professionals for their exercise,” defends the work. 74 municipalities were registered that have at least one nutritionist on their staff (24% of the sample), according to the study, according to which the regular contracting of the provision of services to nutritionists, in the field of preparing school menus and health promotion projects, was reported by 20 municipalities.
Three municipalities indicated that the only nutritionist at the service of the municipality was doing a professional internship and, in addition, 11 municipalities “reported collaboration with the local Health Centers Group (ACeS) regarding the validation of school menus in accordance with the regulations in strength.” says the study.
“Nutritionists can, should and have an extended intervention to the entire population, in particular to children in schools (…) and, in these municipalities, they can and should study the local reality (…) the prevalence of chronic diseases, which are closely related, as we know, to food, and to know the situations of food insecurity”, considered Alexandra Bento.
At this level, the president also said that, after two years of the pandemic, the war, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “raises some questions regarding food supply that, in some way, are impacting the whole ”. Europe”: “This can deepen the problems of food insecurity”. The specialist considered that although nutritionists, in a municipality, “can be a very valuable help for other health actors”, such as health professionals who work in primary health care.
“It is important to think that these professionals must also articulate (…) with the nutritionists of the collective catering companies, those of the SNS [Serviço Nacional der Saúde] and those who will enter the schools within the framework of the contest that is carried out for the integration of nine nutritionists in the Ministry of Education”, he defended.
Alexandra Bento also explained that the Ministry of Education currently has two nutritionists, one in the General Directorate of Education, which works on the development of standards, and another in the General Directorate of Educational Establishments, which is “in coordination with the schools to monitor compliance with the rules. with the rules.”
“To these, another nine will be added,” explained the president, expressing the expectation that these professionals can be in schools this year: “They will work for what will be the adults of tomorrow, who we clearly want them to have better health.”
Regarding the heterogeneity in the distribution of these professionals —“which accompanies the country’s population asymmetry”—, with greater concentration in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, the specialist said: “We want the path to grow and accelerate and to the municipalities of the most interior of the country think that it is a precious resource to contribute to the health of the population, that is, of the children”.
Source: Observadora
