This paper describes the experience of the Reproductive Health InterventionStudy. The study involved the design and testing of a model of essentialreproductive health services. It identified a framework of basic service components that address reproductive health, and showed that their delivery is possible at the primary level. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of this experience, which illustrates how the reproductive health approach can be translated into actual service delivery at the primary care level, in a developing country setting. The paper outlines the framework which was developed and tested by the team in three rural primary care clinics in Giza, Egypt and which is a concrete example of ƒimplementing Cairo˜ on the ground. The paper presents the main achievements as well as challenges and discusses the most salient policy implications.