Costa Rica EBAIS Primary Health Care Program

Costa Rica's national system of basic primary care teams, known as Equipos Basicos de Atencion Integral en Salud or EBAIS, created by Executive Decree No. 30698-S in 1994 under President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen as part of a broader reform of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund's first level of care. The model drew on earlier rural and community health pilots, including programs in San Ramon between 1973 and 1976, the National Health System established in 1983, and a family medicine pilot in Coronado in 1987, and the first EBAIS clinic opened in February 1995, with early expansion prioritizing rural areas with the lowest incomes. Each EBAIS team includes at minimum a physician, a nursing auxiliary and a primary care technical assistant, known by the Spanish acronym ATAP, and the network has grown to more than 1,043 units delivering preventive, curative and public health services to communities across the country.