Workforce development is a major capacity-building strategy of great relevance to public health nutrition, yet little is published on this topic to inform policy, practice and future research. In this workforce development themed issue, a number of papers are presented that go some way to addressing this gap in scholarship and hopefully provide an impetus for more active dissemination of workforce development research and practice through this journal.

Fox et al.⁽Reference Fox, Chenhall, Traynor, Scythes and Bellman¹⁾ present the results of a situational assessment of public health nutrition practice in Canada that has informed the development of a national workforce development strategy. This multifaceted study consisted of literature review, key informant interviews, a political, economic, environmental, social and technological (PEEST) factor analysis and a consensus meeting. Central to this approach has been the active engagement and participation of multiple stakeholders, which is critical to effective workforce development.

South of the border in the USA, which has arguably one of the world’s largest and most developed public health nutrition workforces, Haughton and George⁽Reference Haughton and George²⁾ describe the challenges for workforce development based on a long history and significant national investment in public health nutrition programmes. Key messages from this paper include the importance and recognition of the need for workforce monitoring and the dynamic nature of the workforce that needs to change in response to changing work environments and needs, particularly emphasizing the effect of changing government policy and resource allocation on influencing workforce practices.

Continuing south of the equator, Steyn and Mbhenyane⁽Reference Steyn and Mbhenyane³⁾ review and report on the considerable current and predicted public health nutrition workforce needs in South Africa. This analysis includes consideration of sociodemographics, burden of disease, government policy and programmes, and the nature of the existing workforce, and describes national strategic plans for workforce development.

There is a dearth of literature that can be used to inform workforce development strategy planning and implementation. This may explain the narrow focus of workforce development that has traditionally been biased to considerations of training (workforce preparation) rather than workforce organization, management or quality assurance. In an effort to address this limitation, Palermo and McCall⁽Reference Palermo and McCall⁴⁾ present a qualitative study exploring the role of mentoring in public health nutrition workforce development in Australia, based on reflection and experience of advanced-level practitioners. This study points to the importance of mentoring programmes and work-embedded learning as strategic opportunities to develop competency development pathways for public health nutritionists.

Each of these contributions illustrates the diversity and complexity of challenges for public health nutrition workforce development, even among countries such as Canada, the USA and Australia with similar cultural, socio-economic and political structures. More research, dissemination and collaborative dialogue is needed on workforce development at a global level, particularly in developing economies, without which public health nutrition capacity will be constrained by ineffective and inadequate workforce development.