Workforce development: challenges for practice, professionalization and progress.

Workforce development stands out as a neglected focus of scholarship in the field of public health nutrition. So much so that it undermines the development of public health nutrition as a field of practice and professional activity, and ultimately limits the effectiveness of effort applied in this arena. This editorial challenges readers to consider and address ten key challenges (under the sub-headings below) relevant to public health nutrition workforce development. These preface a number of workforce development papers published in this issue from Canada, South Africa, the USA and Australia, which collectively should stimulate further debate, scholarship and the necessary focus on workforce development as a core function of public health nutrition effort, central to the ongoing professionalization of public health nutrition. Consistent with other areas of public health, a systems approach to workforce development is needed, which recognizes the relationships between the work, the worker and the work setting in the public health nutrition context.