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Worldwide, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a public health problem, as they are the cause of the highest number of deaths in the health system, due to the way of life of today's society. The purpose of this research is to examine the health status and factors that influence the inhabitants of a rural community in the interior of Panama; through the attitudes, practices and knowledge they have about health self-care. It is action research with a mixed approach, a participatory and nursing diagnosis was applied, a community survey and the sample size was 604. The results show that the community has a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, which is in line with studies carried out in the country. Likewise, they have no idea about the negative effects generated by NCDs, so it is necessary to raise awareness among the population. The lack of healthy eating habits is one of the greatest risk factors identified, also, the population does not enjoy regular primary care, so the living situation in general is difficult, due to the poor state of the communication routes and the deficient service offered by the different public entities. It is concluded that it is necessary to raise awareness among the population through health promotion, in addition to the implementation of public policies that address solutions to the problems identified.
