Half the world’s people currently live in rural and remote areas. The problem is that most health workers live and work in cities. This imbalance is common to almost all countries and poses a major challenge to the nationwide provision of health services. This report builds on work that has already been done in human resources for health, including the Joint Learning Initiative Report, the World Health Report 2006, and the report of the Task Force on Scaling Up Education and Training of Health Workers. It draws on relevant methods and tools, including the HRH Action Framework and the Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health.