The health manpower planning experiences of four countries reported here were presented in a traveling seminar held for member countries of the Pan American Health Organization. Focus was on what should be carried out in any country to coordinate the training of health workers with the operation of health services. Following the introduction, the content is presented in six chapters. The first one, on the process and background of manpower planning, covers the role of governments, government-university relationships, government structure, and health planning. Chapter 2 discusses the phases in manpower planning, such as analyzing the manpower training and use situation, analyzing the health care system, determining the health and education needs of the population, identifying issues, formulating a health manpower policy and plan, executing the plan, and evaluating the results. The remaining four chapters describe the planning modalities in Columbia, Ecuador, Honduras, and the United States, with each chapter covering the following: the country and its population, health conditions, health services, human and physical health care resources, national health policy, health manpower policy, health manpower units and their programs, and the future. Conclusions and recommendations are presented at the end of this report. (EM)