This article discusses the agenda for the training and management of the health workforce in Brazil from a historical viewpoint, especially as refers to its relations with the programs in this field developed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the first section one discusses the role of history in the field of community health. The priority given to the topic health work in the international agenda seems to point to a potential renewal of the relations between history and health. The second section provides a historical examination of the human resources programs of the WHO. In the third section, a similar examination is conducted with respect to the actions of PAHO in the same field. The fourth part of the article discusses - on the basis of the experience called "Program for Strategic Preparation of Health Personnel - PPREPS" - the relations between the national and international policies for the development of human resources in health. Moreover it describes a number of adapted responses and original solutions for facing the health workforce problem proposed by the Brazilian technicians. Finally, some questions are raised for discussion regarding the articulation between history and health workforce policies.
History; Workers; International health; Health policy; Brazil