Nutrition Technical Advisor Job Duties
A nutrition technical adviser with a master’s degree in public health plays a crucial role in ensuring healthy outcomes for many people who live in third world countries. For example, in this role, you might work on such programs as USAID’s Global Health Initiative, where you will work on supporting the improvement in nutrition and general help in countries such as Bangladesh. You would help to develop highly effective nutritional strategies and interventions. Some of these might include efforts to effectively counter the effects of anemia, and also to deal with deficiencies of essential vitamins, such as Vitamin A.
Other duties as a nutrition technical adviser with your master’s in public health in a third world country include the following:
- Develop strategies to monitor growth and policy effects in affected communities and clinics
- Assess the nutrition needs in areas with low performance
- Determine the best practices of nutrition for affected areas and develop strategies to implement those practices
- Implement nutritional interventions developed at the national level and bring them to the local level
- Develop workshops at the local level to instruct the community on how to improve health and reduce negative outcomes.
- Draft standards of nutrition for local communities and implement them.
- Determine what gaps exist in current nutrition intervention and make a plan to deal with those gaps
Nutrition Technical Advisor Career & Salary Outlook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the employment of nutritionists should increase by 20% in the next 20 years, which is faster than average compared to other occupations. We should see similar growth in the careers of nutrition technical advisors with a master’s degree in public health. There could be fluctuations, however, in demand due to the changing degrees of federal funding for these sorts of international projects. See more from the Best Public Health Careers list.
Job Outlook for Nutrition Technical Advisors
In 2010, there were 64,400 nutritionists employed in the U.S. This is expected to climb to 77,100 in 2020, which is an increase of 20%.
It seems likely that several important factors will boost the overall rate of growth for nutritionists. These include more awareness of the importance of eating well to stay healthy and stop disease. The growing population of the aged will also increase the growth of jobs in nutrition and diet in medical centers. Also, as medical insurance changes and emphasizes preventative health, the need for good nutritionists will increase.
Salary Potential of Nutrition Technical Advisors
The median annual wage for nutritionists and nutrition technical advisors in 2010 was $53,200. The top 10% of workers in this field earned more than $75,000. Most nutritionists work full time, but about 20 percent are able to work part time. With a master’s in public health, you stand a strong chance of getting to the top 10-20% of those who work in this field. Many nutrition technical advisors end up working for government agencies, which will likely pay you towards the top of the pay scale for nutritionists.
Nutrition Technical Advisors Education and Training
To become a nutritional technical advisor, you will need to have at least a bachelor’s in nutrition, plus a master’s degree in public health. You also will need to have several years of experience that deals with implementing nutritional programs in developing countries. To get this sort of experience, you should try to get some sort of practicum or internship when you are getting your MPH so that you can show you have the skills necessary to deal with developing countries and their nutritional needs. See online mph programs.
