Ideally, health human resource (HHR) planning for maternal, child and youth health care should be based not only on an understanding of present and future health care needs, but also on well-defined health-related outcomes. Most of the previous HHR strategies have relied on predictive mathematical models based on the number of existing health care professionals (most often physician numbers) and changes in both total population and population demographics. However, alterations in demands related to health status (or 'need') or desired population health-related goals (or 'outcomes') were not specifically or strategically addressed.