About PHCPI


The Primary Health Care Performance Initiative

PHCPI (2015-2022) was a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of primary health care, striving to help create a world where strong primary health care is the reality, not the exception, for every person, family and community.

Polio drops © Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Prashant Pranjar

PHCPI was built on the belief that primary health care is the cornerstone of sustainable development, and that improving primary health care begins with better measurement. The partnership worked closely with governments and development partners who are looking to strengthen primary health care, providing them with the data, information and support they need to drive evidence-based improvements.

Founded in 2015 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group, in collaboration with Ariadne Labs and Results for Development and adding additional global partners UNICEF and the Global Fund in 2020, PHCPI drew on the strengths of these partners to work across the spectrum of primary health care measurement to improvement, with advocacy and community engagement supporting all efforts. PHCPI aimed to ensure that data on primary health care is both accessible and used to drive decisions that change people’s lives. 

Ultimately, with immense pride and gratitude, the PHCPI Steering Committee announced the conclusion of the partnership at the end of 2022. Read the official Steering Committee statement here, as well as a letter from the Executive Director here

To learn more about PHCPI's legacy and impact, check out this report highlighting the evolution of PHCPI's tools and resources from 2015-2022 or explore the PHCPI Legacy Project video series:

Our Approach

PHCPI supported stronger primary health care through three interconnected areas of work: Measurement, Improvement, and Engagement. 

Measurement

PHCPI used existing and emerging data to monitor and report on primary health care system performance, promote accountability, and help countries drive targeted improvements. PHCPI’s Conceptual Framework laid out the most important components of a strong primary health care system, showing the different elements of primary health care that countries should measure. Our set of 38 Core Indicators summarized existing comparable data on these elements. The PHC Vital Signs Profiles – launched in October 2018 – went one step further and provided the first-ever snapshot of the strength of primary health care systems in individual countries, shining a light on elements of the system that were previously overlooked. For more information on primary health care in specific countries, we invite you to explore our data. To learn more about how our measurement resources evolved and what we learned along the way, check out this reference guide

Improvement

Ultimately, PHCPI worked for improvement and accountability. The partnership was committed to helping countries and development partners bridge the gap between measurement and improvement by providing relevant, useful information on what works to improve primary health care. In 2019, we launched the Improvement Strategies, an interactive knowledge tool that provides a selection of evidence-informed improvement options based on the current status of a country's primary health care system. We also identified Country Case Studies and Promising Practices -- lessons for how to build strong primary health care systems -- in countries around the world. We also worked closely with the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) and other global partner networks to develop tools that countries can use to improve primary health care.

Engagement

PHCPI worked to elevate primary health care as a global priority by bringing together committed country-level policymakers, advocates and other development partners to help build strong primary health care systems and drive global and national attention to the issue. Explore our resources – including the Vital Signs Report – for more information.

To learn more about the latest work on primary health care measurement, improvement, and advocacy, we encourage you to follow the ongoing efforts of PHCPI's former partners, who remain as committed as ever to build on PHCPI’s legacy and realize a world where every person, community, and country benefits from strong primary health care, starting with better measurement.