The Jamaican database on human resources in health (HRH) is an important component of the Health Human Resources Information Data Sets in the Americas and derives from the objectives of the Toronto Call to Action and the five critical challenges and twenty regional goals to be achieved in the ensuing decade ending in 2015. The specific objective of this phase of the study is to assemble a comprehensive database on all HRH in Jamaica and establish a system for the efficient, continual updating of this database. A team of researchers at the Epidemiology Unit (ERU) of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (TMRI) identified the main stakeholders in HRH management in Jamaica under the three main areas: Stocks and flows, Regulatory framework and management practices, Training. Contact has been made with stakeholders to obtain the data on all HRH, and six databases have been created to include aggregate and individual data under the three categories above. These datasets are being managed under currently acceptable standards of database management with the requisite confidentiality and security arrangements. Data collection has been limited by the scarcity of data in some cases, while in others the required data management systems allow for easily retrievable data. Data from the public sector has been more easily obtained and less data have been forthcoming from the private sector, forcing the research team to resort to innovative tools such as surveys of medicals reps (salespeople of pharmaceutical companies) and extract data from the “yellow pages” listings. Analysis of these data reveals shortages across the health workforce in general and more so in some specific professions and in some regions of the country. HRH density of doctors, nurses and midwives in the public sector is approximately 12.1/10,000 population, and falls to lower levels in the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA). Even the largest estimates of HRH calculated in this paper show a ratio of 22.8 per 10.000 level for the whole country, while the level set by the World Health Organization to achieve a minimum level of health care is 25 / 10,000. The distribution of doctors, nurses and dentists is least favourable to the SRHA. The data also shows that in addition to a severe shortage of dentists in the public sector, there is a significant shortage of rehabilitation specialists in speech and occupational therapy. There is a predominance of female professionals even in traditional masculine professions like medicine, where the research found an M/F relation of 1:1. The ageing of the population and the increased burden of chronic diseases, in particular strokes and heart disease, may make it mandatory that greater attention be paid to these HRH areas of specialty in comparison to other areas like public health inspectors, which were a priority focus in an earlier time. The data so far does not allow for the linkages to be made between training facilities and the needs of the population. With the absence of good data on the societal needs it will be difficult to conclude whether and how much these institutional capacities should be increased, and if not, alternate ways of satisfy those needs. The Ministry of Health and the International Consortium for HR Planning have begun a process to address this problem linking health needs with HRH forecasts. More data will be required to assess the role of regulatory agencies and government bodies like the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour in the international recruitment. There is nevertheless the need that all databases of regulatory bodies be electronically maintained in a form, which is easily retrievable This paper argues for the necessity of a continuous effort in data collection to establish this baseline database and in the development of a Human Resources Observatory, as a system to achieve a sustainable database to inform decisions and guide policies in HRH for Jamaica and the Region. (AU)