“High-quality primary healthcare can cover 80% to 90% of a population’s healthcare needs,” says Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, executive director of Ariadne Labs. “And effective delivery of these services can save lives and reduce inequity.”

At Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at the Brigham and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Bitton and his team are using data to create snapshots of how primary care systems are performing in low- and middle-income countries. These snapshots and other knowledge tools support countries and partners to bridge the gap between measurement and improvement by providing relevant, useful information on what works to improve primary health care. Through their work, the team collaborates with international policymakers and healthcare systems, and also with passionate advocacy and nonprofit organizations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Population Action International (PAI).

“Primary care is the cornerstone to achieving health for all. We are proud to support Ariadne Labs to ensure more people can easily access services that are consistent, high quality, and trustworthy.”
—CAROLYN VOGEL

With a strong belief that primary care is an investment in the future, the Gates Foundation and partner PAI awarded a grant of $4.2 million to Ariadne Labs for the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative. Their contribution is fueling the initiative’s efforts to use data-driven tools that measure primary care success across nations. This includes an assessment of everything from leadership and governance to boots-on-the-ground population health management teams working with care providers and patients.

Data from the initiative is invaluable, says Bitton, because it reveals weak points in primary care systems that decision-makers can work to improve. He says, “With this investment from the Gates Foundation and PAI, we’re working with some of the most respected health and economic organizations in the world to develop evidence-based enhancements that can be deployed across healthcare systems.”

“Primary care is the cornerstone to achieving health for all. We are proud to support Ariadne Labs to ensure more people can easily access services that are consistent, high quality, and trustworthy.”