History

Family Health International (FHI) grew from a contraceptive research project that began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971. An initial grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) helped establish the International Fertility Research Program (IFRP), which became an independent, nonprofit organization in 1975. In 1982 IFRP changed its name to Family Health International.

Over the years, FHI's work expanded beyond family planning into many other areas of reproductive health research and technical assistance. We investigated and then implemented effective ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and enhance the quality of reproductive health services.

In 1986, we began to work on early strategies to prevent HIV infection. In 1987 we were awarded USAID's first five-year HIV/AIDS prevention program in developing countries. We opened our office in the Washington, DC, area to manage our growing portfolio of HIV/AIDS-related projects. Continual funding since then—from USAID, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others—has enabled us to manage more HIV/AIDS programs than any other organization in the world.

U.S. Government agencies, principally USAID, the NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, remain important benefactors. Other major sponsors include the U.K. Department of International Development (DFID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Increasingly, other governments' development agencies, private foundations, and the private sector are contributing to our growth and diversification.