VerifiedDietetics splits into two careers that share a degree. Clinical dietetics is hospital work: feeding patients who cannot eat normally, managing diabetes and kidney disease, and running tube and intravenous feeding. Community nutrition is public health work on malnutrition, stunting and food security, mostly in districts rather than wards.
South Africa has a serious child stunting problem, which is why the community side is where the public posts are and where the funding is aimed.
Registration and community service
You register with the HPCSA Professional Board for Dietetics and Nutrition. Dietetics was among the professions brought into compulsory community service from 2003 and is on the current list, so one remunerated year at an approved establishment comes before independent practice.
The board registers dietitians and nutritionists separately. They are not the same qualification and they do not carry the same scope of practice, so check which one a course leads to before you accept funding for it.
Bursaries for dietetics
- ADSA, the Association for Dietetics in South Africa
- Gauteng Department of Health
- KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health
- Mpumalanga Provincial Government
- North West Provincial Government
- Mediclinic and ER24
- Black Mountain Study Trust
- Exxaro
- Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships, for postgraduate study
ADSA is the profession’s own association and the most directly relevant. The food industry also employs dietitians in product development and regulatory work, so the manufacturers on our agriculture bursaries page are worth a look.