The number of health workers in Mozambique is insufficient to enable the achievement of the country‟s population health goals. This problem is compounded by the uneven distribution of health care works by province and by area of residence, and by a weak and under-resourced national health system which has made it difficult to produce, recruit and retain health workers, particularly in rural and remote areas. Health worker motivation and retention is critical for health system performance and equity. However, in Mozambique, staff performance in the health sector has been affected by low levels of motivation, discontent related to salaries, poor career prospects, increases in workloads, and by difficult working environments. Human resources planning and management has been decentralised to the provincial departaments, but these departments are often understaffed and characterised by generally weak organisational and administrative management. A key problem in the health care services in Mozambique, therefore, is how best to motivate and retain health workers in the country‟s rural and remote areas. The primary focus of this policy brief is the issue of “retention in rural areas” as outlined in the Mozambique National Human Resource Strategic Plan 2008-2015, but we will also consider the related issues of staff motivation and job satisfaction. The primary problem addressed in this document is the shortage of health workers in Mozambique‟s rural areas but issues related to the uneven distribution of staff, worker demotivation, poor staff performance, and low levels of service quality are also considered.