History

Family Health International grew from a contraceptive research project that began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971. An initial grant from the US 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. Since then, FHI's work expanded from family planning into many other areas of reproductive health research and technical assistance. FHI investigated and then implemented effective ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and enhance the quality of reproductive health services. In 1986, FHI began working on early strategies to prevent HIV infection and in 1987 FHI was awarded USAID's first five-year HIV/AIDS prevention program in developing countries. Continuous funding since then—from USAID, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others—enabled FHI to manage some of the largest HIV/AIDS programs in the world.

US Government agencies, principally USAID, the NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, remain important funders. Other major sponsors include the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Increasingly, other governments, private foundations, and the private sector are partnering with FHI to address the world's health and development challenges.