This study was conducted as part of the research agenda of the Kenya Technical Working Group (TWG) for Managing the Migration of Human Resources for Health (HRH) established in Kenya, co-ordinated by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour and in co-operation with International Organization on Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the East African Community (EAC) Multi-sectoral Technical Committee of Experts on Migration of Human Resources for Health and as part of the Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) regional programme of work on health worker migration and retention in co-operation with the Secretariat of the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA- HC). We aimed to identify determinants, benchmarks and indicators of the costs and benefits and distributional impact of the migration of human resources for health on health services in Kenya and to make policy proposals for intervention.