In many parts of the world, primary health care is fragmented, underfunded, and reactive—focused on treating illness rather than promoting health. Systems often fail to address chronic conditions, respond to population needs, or reach marginalized communities. At Ariadne Labs, we work to change that.
With partners in over 50 countries, we collaborate with governments, health providers, and multilateral organizations to strengthen primary health care systems and promote equitable, high-quality care for all. Our work focuses on four core areas: measurement frameworks and tools, integrated service delivery models, population health management implementation, health system analysis and policy planning.
Measurement Frameworks and Tools
We design and implement frameworks and tools that help leaders assess and improve how their primary care systems perform. These tools offer insights into capacity, access, and quality—and guide action. We also provide technical support to adapt and implement these frameworks and tools at the country level, ensuring they reflect local needs and realities. Our work has supported funders, policy makers, and program implementers across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Learn more about our Measurement Frameworks and Tools
We design tools to help leaders around the world and in the U.S. measure health care system capacity and performance to guide improvement
LEARN MOREIntegrating Service Delivery Models
We study and test care models that integrate services and promote whole-of-person care across conditions and care levels, aiming to make care more continuous, coordinated, comprehensive, and person-centered. Our research and human-centered design efforts focus on improving chronic disease care, strengthening patient engagement, and managing complex cases in low- and middle-income countries.
Learn more about our work Integrating Service Delivery
We develop and test scalable interventions with evidence-based implementation strategies that support widespread adoption of high-quality care models.
LEARN MOREPopulation Health Management
We help frontline facilities adopt systems that support prevention, early diagnosis, and long-term care across populations. Our approach combines evidence-based protocols, human-centered design, clinical transformation, and policy support to improve health outcomes at scale.
Across all our work, we help countries build primary care systems that meet the evolving needs of their populations—and unlock the full potential of primary health care to deliver 90% of people’s health care needs over the course of their lives.
Learn more about our work in Population Health Management
Strengthening the core functions of primary health care systems and developing strategies that enable systems to proactively meet and adapt to the needs of their populations.
LEARN MOREPolicy Analysis and Planning
The PHC team enhances health systems performance through a holistic and collaborative approach to policy formulation. In collaboration with international and local partners, we support the analysis of national and subnational health systems to inform policy planning with an emphasis on aligning financial systems and incentives to advance high-quality, integrated, and team-based models of care.
We pursue this work by:
- Diagnosing gaps and inefficiencies to ensure that policies are not just theoretically sound but are also pragmatically aligned with needs and demands.
- Institutionalizing successful practices and embedding them into the core structure of health systems to create adaptable and resilient frameworks.
Learn more about our work in Policy Analysis and Planning
In 2014 Ariadne Labs was tasked with analyzing high-performing primary health care systems around the world to develop recommendations for strengthening primary health care delivery in China. The results were distilled into the Eight Tenets of Primary Health Care Improvement, which have been used to inform widespread health care reform in provinces across China.
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