| Health manpower planning is a means of trying to make sure there will be enough health workers to meet, but not exceed, future economic demands. Effort must be put into making more use of effective planning since it takes time to train people. An analytic framework was developed for health manpower planning after being put into practice in studies carried out by Johns Hopkins University's Department of International Health in Taiwan, Turkey, Peru, and Nigeria. The framework included: (1)supply analysis (measuring current supply of all types of health workers in detail); (2)analysis of projected supply; (3)analysis of effective economic demand for services; (4)analysis of projected demand; (5)estimation of worker productivity; (6)analysis of the anticipated gap between future supply and future demand; and (7)constraints that will limit any recommendations. Each factor in the framework is discussed in terms of its component parts. The importance of health manpower planning is established and processes involved in it are clarified. Fifteen references are listed, with additional recommended readings. |