Abstract

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) describes a new disease called COVID-19 as a pandemic. In response to this it provides a series of guidelines, with primary health care as the protagonist in the last of these. However, it is a great task with few available resources, even more so when we find a historically neglected level of care. In this context, this article responds to the objective of highlighting the importance of primary health care of Latin America in response to the strategic plan recently developed by the WHO. The need for its strengthening is referred to by multiple realities such as Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Likewise, it has been described that nursing has a preponderant role in the face of the problem since these are professionals who provide up to 90% of health services, with patient outcomes comparable to or better than medical counter-parts. However, their capacity is limited by state and federal laws. Four obstacles are described which restrict the powerful contribution of primary health care.