In Costa Rica: How a middle-income country built a world-class primary care system

This episode is the first in a two-part series on the primary care system in Costa Rica. Dr.Tara Kiran sits down with Dr. Madeline Pesec, an internal medicine physician and pediatrician, to explore Costa Rica’s ambitious primary health care system. They talk about how Costa Rica's commitment to health as a human right and its community-oriented primary care have led to significant improvements in health outcomes. From the concept of "Hospital Without Walls" to the role of community health workers, Madeline shares insights from her extensive research and personal experiences in Costa Rica. Then, join us in our next episode where Tara goes on a tour of a Costa Rican clinic and speaks to members of the EBAIS (Equipos Básicos de Atención Integral de Salud) about both how and why they do their work. 

Further reading:

Take a look at the research article that first introduced me to Madeline

Explore this brief Commonwealth Fund case study on the Costa Rican primary care system or dive deeper into this more detailed case study from Ariadne Labs 

Read the article “Costa Ricans Live Longer Than We Do. What’s the Secret?” in the New Yorker magazine by Dr. Atul Gawande

MAINPRO CREDITS: Family doctors can claim Mainpro Credits by completing a linking learning exercise. 

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