50 Years of Global Health

Saving Lives and Building Futures

Recent decades have witnessed dramatic progress in global health. Smallpox has been eradicated. Globally, the percent of married women using a modern method of contraception has increased from less than 10 percent in 1965 to more than 50 percent in 2013. Child deaths from diarrhea have been reduced by more than 50 percent since 1990. Deaths from malaria have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2000. Globally, maternal mortality per 100,000 live births has declined from 380 deaths in 1990 to 210 deaths in 2013. And HIV has been transformed from a disease that meant certain death to a disease that with the right treatment can be managed as a chronic ailment.

In its 50-year history, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has had an important hand in these and other crucial advances in global health. USAID’s new book, 50 Years of Global Health: Saving Lives and Building Futures is a record of our work, a catalog of lessons and a source of pride and inspiration.