The need to plan the number, profile and distribution of health workforce has been a major concern of managers, workers and users involved in the Brazilian health reform, since the National Health System was first designed. This bibliographic and documental research presents an analysis of the historical trajectory of health workforce planning policies in Brazil, highlighting the resurgence of problems identified since the 1970s in this area, largely for the maintenance of a care model that favors the private interests at the expense of the population's rights and needs.
Health manpower; Health policy, planning and management; Unified Health System