Facilities and difficulties in implementing the Health at School Program in a municipality in northeastern Brazil

Introduction: School health in Brazil is offered through the School Health Program. The purpose of this study was to identify the facilities and difficulties in implementing the Health at School Program in a municipality in the Northeast of Brazil. Materials and Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative research conducted with 105 professionals from the Family Health Strategy who had already carried out activities of the program. Data was collected through an instrument with open and closed questions. We used open questions regarding the facilities and difficulties encountered in implementation of the Health Program in the School. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and presented in absolute and relative numbers. Results: The most frequent facilities are intersectoral articulation (38.1%) and professional satisfaction (24.8%) in performing the activities of the Health Program in the School. The difficulties were: shortage of material financial resources (50.5%). lack of intersectoral articulation (26.7%). and excess of activities in the work process (17.1%). Discussion: A greater frequency of difficulties was observed in relation to the facilities and the results found show similarity and distance themselves from other studies of the area. Conclusions: The satisfaction of professionals and articulation between the health and education sectors are facilitating elements in implementing the Health at School Program. However, insufficient material and financial resources, as well as excess attributions in the work process arc examples of fictors that jeopardize its implementation.