About GHI

"It represents a new approach, informed by new thinking and aimed at a new goal: To save the greatest possible number of lives, both by increasing our existing health programs and by building upon them to help countries develop their own capacity to improve the health of their own people.”

– Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, August 2010

The Global Health Initiative (GHI) has combined the skills of U.S. Government agencies to overcome global health challenges that threaten lives at home and around the world. This approach, governed by GHI Principles, will overcome global health challenges throughout the 80 countries around the world where we work by supporting all U.S. Government agencies to work as one. Through GHI, the United States is maximizing investments to protect the American people, advancing America’s core values, and saving more lives. Success will be measured on making progress in three key areas of focus which are:

Saving mothers and children
We have made remarkable reductions in maternal and child mortality over the past 20 years, but there is still more work to be done. Through GHI, the U.S. Government will work in selected countries to support additional reductions of 35 percent in child mortality and 30 percent in maternal mortality (up to 50 percent reduction in maternal deaths in certain targeted districts in select countries) and bring integrated, comprehensive programs together to save the lives of more women during pregnancy and delivery.

Creating an AIDS-free generation
By providing prevention, care, and treatment to millions worldwide, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) brought hope to communities that had been decimated by AIDS. New scientific advances in prevention and treatment will enable PEPFAR to make an even greater impact as it works to prevent more than 12 million infections, treat more than 4 million people, and provide support to more than 5 million orphans.

Challenging ourselves and challenging the world
The world has made significant progress on the health-related Millennium Development Goals. However, in order to truly achieve them, all nations must come together to support commitments to global health. By 2015, the United States will meet new levels of achievement by leveraging investments through increased donations from partner countries and other funders, both public and private. Recipient nations must become stronger partners by taking greater steps to become more self-sufficient and self-reliant in building and managing their own health systems.

The GHI Principles

	“[W]e will not be successful in our efforts to end deaths from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis unless we do more to improve health systems around the world, focus our efforts on child and maternal health, and ensure that best practices drive the funding for these programs.” – President Barack Obama, May 2009

• Increase impact through strategic coordination and integration for patients and for those involved in providing or paying for services
• Support country ownership and invest in country-led plans
• Build sustainability through health systems strengthening
• Strengthen and leverage key multilateral organizations, global health partnerships, and private sector engagement because improving health outcomes is a shared responsibility
• Implement a woman, girl, and gender equity approach both to improve health outcomes for women and to recognize that women are central to the health of families and communities
• Improve metrics, monitoring, and evaluation
• Promote research and innovation to identify what works

What We’ve Accomplished

• Each year, U.S.-funded interventions in oral rehydration therapy, zinc and vitamin A supplementation, and basic immunizations save the lives of approximately 6 million children.
• Each year, the U.S. Government treats one billion episodes of child diarrhea, gives 100 million children immunizations, and provides pneumonia treatment to more than 75 million children.
• More than 70 percent of women receive at least some care during pregnancy.
• During the Obama Administration, the U.S. Government has achieved an 84 percent increase in the number of people receiving AIDS treatment, now reaching more than 3.2 million people.
• In 2010 alone, the U.S. Government supported HIV counseling and testing for nearly 33 million people and provided care and support for nearly 3.8 million orphans and vulnerable children.
• U.S. Government-supported research identified new tuberculosis (TB) screening guidelines that increased the accuracy of a diagnosis in persons living with HIV by 300 percent at no extra cost.
• A U.S. Government-supported basic care package for people with HIV combines multiple low-cost interventions at $10 per family per year, including access to safe water, and reduces diarrhea by up to 30 percent.
• Since 2009, the U.S. Government has leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars from the private sector.
• The U.S. Government provides 35–40 percent of donor-provided contraceptives to the developing world.
• The U.S. Government treats more than 1 million smear-positive cases of TB each year.

Who works on GHI

The Global Health Initiative, now coordinated from the State Department, is a new, integrated approach to unify our government’s investments in global health. This approach draws upon the expertise and programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and its other agencies), PEPFAR, Peace Corps, and the Department of Defense. GHI supports better integration coordination among programs at both the headquarters and country-level with the U.S. Government, countries, donors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and all partners working in a community.