HSDF worked alongside state governments as a long-term technical partner, providing strategic support to strengthen the governance and management of primary healthcare systems. The programme focused on:

• Strengthening leadership and governance within state primary healthcare agencies.
• Improving planning, coordination, and performance management.
• Supporting institutional reforms that enhanced accountability.
• Building management capacity across different levels of the health system.
• Embedding sustainable processes that could be maintained by government institutions beyond the life of the project.

Rather than implementing services directly, the programme invested in strengthening the systems responsible for delivering those services.