This is the first in a series of HSSP Occasional Papers highlighting the health system strengthening work of the project in Zambia. The focus of this paper is on human resources for health (HRH).

The paper presents an overview of the current HRH situation in Zambia, provides comparisons with other countries in the region, and summarizes the work accomplished under the human resources component of HSSP in the project’s first year of operation, namely:

• Identifying and analyzing priority HRH issues in Zambia;

• Developing solutions and presenting them to stakeholders; and

• Assisting the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) in setting the HRH agenda.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a summary of basic demographic and health indicators in Zambia; Section 3 describes the organization and reforms of the health sector; Section 4 discusses the HRH challenges facing Zambia; Section 5 describes the work completed in 2004– 2005 by HSSP under the HRH component of the project; Section 6 summarizes key issues in the HRH Strategic Plan 2006–2010; and Section 7 offers concluding remarks.