The concept and definition of Primary Health Care arises at a World Health Organization (WHO) Summit in 1978 and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Alma Ata (former USSR), in which Costa Rica was part. For that year, Costa Rica had implemented successful strategies in health care, prevention of disease, an early risk approach in rural and urban communities. Therefore, the model was subject of study for multiple researchers for the following 25 years. 

People’s health care in communities, led by a renewed Primary Health Care strategy, is re launched by the WHO and begins to prevail near the year 2000. 

Nevertheless, the inequalities and disparities accompany the reports of numerous countries which do not achieve the strategy’s objectives. However, Costa Rica has prevailed among the different members of the WHO as a reference in terms of health policies focused on a universal coverage, with a solidary health model, equitable and a complex operation system that articulates different institutions and services to favor the population’s quality of life.

Costa Rica has become a model for the environment and sustainability, and home to one of the worlds Blue Zones, recognizing the aspects and practices that have made it possible is the fundamental pillar of this program.

This program includes 3 pillars, Costa Rican culture and folklore, a comprehensive approach to healthy lifestyle practices and unique experience of visiting long-lived people in their environment in Nicoya Peninsula, Guanacaste. Its purpose is to raise awareness not only in student’s lifestyle impact in their personal health but also the environment.

This program offers students the possibility to research selected health problems and their impact on the health of individuals and communities in Costa Rica. Students will have the opportunity to analyze specific health issues such as social determinants of health, health disparities, disease burden, measurement, and trends.

By delivering basic nursing care in collaboration with healthcare providers, including community healthcare workers, students will be able to have a hands-on experience working directly with selected populations in the community and/or clinical setting, working on an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional level. 

Costa Rica has a world renowned solidary and universal health care system, which is also among the best in primary health care coverage, therefore this program gives the opportunity to compare and contrast Costa Rica and other countries health care systems, organization and function in addressing health challenges, all focused on building healthier communities.

Globalization and the high paced way of life of developing countries has made an impact on the health of children. Costa Rica takes great pride of having one of the best health systems of the world, life expectancy at birth is over 70 years both for men and women and the child mortality rate is 7,8 for every, one thousand. Despite having such good health indicators, the country’s affected by child malnutrition in some sectors, obesity, and the development of some preventable diseases. 

The Pediatric Nursing Program as an academic experience gives students the opportunity to be in direct contact with the child population, developing primary health care strategies. Students will work promoting health amongst healthy populations and in prevention with children at risk. These strategies include education programs for vulnerable groups, their families, and caretakers, in the case they are in children centers they would also work with the academic staff y personnel at the institution. 

Activities take place in different public and private scenarios such as Centros de Cuido Infantil (CECUDI), nurseries, NGO’s, schools, long term shelters, among others.

Costa Rica’s life expectancy at birth exceeds 75 years. This is the result of the success the country has had in terms of health and social security. However, the increase of the ageing population is also a challenge for the health system and therefore for the professionals in charge of caring for the elderly. 

This program provides the student with practical experiences focused on developing skills to care for the elderly. The different scenarios comprise interactions with diverse populations that are addressed from the model of health promotion and comprehensive care when ageing. Additionally, it raises awareness among participants to understand that the elderly makes valuable contributions within the family, the community and to society in general. To enhance the opportunities for them to contribute to their context; to promote, maintain and improve their health is indispensable. 

The learning experiences focus on fostering a comprehensive state of physical and mental wellbeing that will allow the elderly to go through this part of life preserving their abilities, preventing, and delaying their impairment as well as the advance of chronic diseases or their complications.

This program provides the student with the tools that raise their awareness of adulthood as a broad-ranging life cycle in which human beings express all their physical, mental, and social capacities to the full, without overlooking the expression of human potential that is undeniably linked to their health status.

The health of young adults is beset mainly by lesions and traumas, problems relating to sexuality or reproduction, the abuse of psychoactive substances, and mental disorders, among others. When the person approaches adulthood, health problems tend towards the emergence of or complications relating to chronic illnesses.

The learning experiences envisioned in the course, that take place within workplace scenarios and social environments, allow the student to identify the care needs of different populations that must be addressed from the Primary Health Care paradigm. The student exercises the clinical skill for the identification of risky behaviors, the prevention of complications, and to favor the reestablishment or maintaining integral health, while at the same time putting into practice critical thinking in the design of strategies to address detected needs.

Mental health has become a priority for the World Health Organization and therefore for Costa Rica’s government. In 2012 the Mental Health National Policy was published in Costa Rica to articulate all the inter institutional and inter disciplinary work that had been undergoing in the country. 

The Mental Health Community Nursing Program highlights the work of nursing in the promotion of mental health, prevention of mental diseases and disorders, the development of adaptive behaviors for life in different population groups.

The pedagogical experiences allow the students to interact with their academic pairs to develop primary health care strategies. Under the guidance of a mental health specialist nurse, students will develop face to face activities in senior homes, nurseries, associations of people with disabilities, local governments, businesses, among others. 

This program allows the students to learn skills such as assertive communication, therapeutic communication, implementation of mental assessments, identification of signs and symptoms associated with mental health alterations, among others.