Homepage

A Leader in Public Health Research

Healthcare provider using tongue compressor on small child while he sits in his father's lap.

The Science of Improving Lives

FHI 360’s tagline, “The Science of Improving Lives,” underscores our long history of placing evidence and research at the center of our work. We apply our research expertise to the most critical public health issues of our times in the United States and around the world.

We provide Federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local government agencies, international aid organizations, nongovernmental organizations and service providers with the information, tools and technical assistance they need to develop evidence-based policies and high-quality interventions. Our research efforts routinely examine the impact of policies on public health issues, as well as translate research findings in ways that are relevant, understandable and actionable for policy makers.

FHI 360’s research and evaluation work is designed to build a knowledge base for advancing health equity; we also are leading practitioners of research and evaluation on many leading social determinants of health such as education and employment.

FHI 360 is committed to consistently upholding the highest scientific and ethical standards governing research involving human subjects. FHI 360 holds a Federalwide Assurance (FWA) of compliance for the protection of human subjects; our Protection of Human Subjects Committee is recognized as the responsible Institutional Review Board (IRB) for fulfilling the requirements of federal regulations.

FHI 360 researchers publish many public health research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals every year.

Research & Evaluation Services Offered

Biostatistics and Data Management
Clinical Trials Design and Implementation
Communications Research
Cost-effectiveness Studies
Epidemiological Studies
Implementation Science

Implementation science is the study of methods to promote more systematic application of research evidence into health care policy and practice. Through multidisciplinary research, FHI 360 addresses the gaps between knowledge development and widespread uptake of evidence-based innovations in actual practice.

We test new approaches to implementation and explore factors determining intervention impact. Our implementation science portfolio includes a broad range of methodological approaches, including formative assessments, exploratory studies, operations research, health systems research, impact evaluations, policy analyses and economic studies.

Core implementation science concepts — such as coping with real-world contexts, delivering interventions at scale and achieving maximum population-level health outcomes from the investment of limited resources — are at the heart of global health practice. Expanded application of implementation science to global health, therefore, holds great promise for advancing this research discipline. In turn, implementation science offers the global health field a new set of evaluation approaches and tools that can close the gap between what we know works and what we actually do.

Program Assessment and Evaluation
Quantitative Data Analysis and Reporting
Research Ethics
Research Utilization

Public Health Issues Addressed

Diabetes

TYPE 2 DIABETES PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes diabetes as “a group of diseases characterized by high blood sugar” — a condition that, if uncontrolled, can lead to complications that include heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. The CDC’s 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report estimates that 37.3 million people in the United States (11.3% of the total population) have diabetes; of those, 8.5 million are undiagnosed. More than 96 million people age 18 and older (38% of the total population) have prediabetes, including 26.4 million age 65 and older, and many of them are unaware of it.

In type 1 diabetes, which is typically diagnosed in childhood, a person’s body does not make enough insulin. In the far more common type 2 diabetes, the body develops “insulin resistance,” meaning that insulin is not used effectively. People affected by type 2 diabetes are often over 40, are overweight or have a family history of the disease. Though medication may be required at some point, type 2 diabetes can often be controlled by lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise.

Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects communities of color and groups with lower socioeconomic status. Preventing and managing it effectively requires that we recognize the impact of social determinants of health, such as food and housing insecurity, that can affect a person’s ability to make lifestyle changes.

For more than a decade, FHI 360 has supported the CDC’s efforts to help people prevent or manage type 2 diabetes through such programs as the Diabetes Education and Marketing Support project, the National Diabetes Prevention Program, the North Carolina Rural Media Project, the National Diabetes Prevention Program Family Approach Project and the Black Family-Focused Diabetes Control, Self-Management and Prevention Program.

Our comprehensive approach to diabetes prevention and management incorporates a deep understanding of racial disparity across the full spectrum of outcomes. We have developed a customized set of equity considerations, based on the Systematic Analysis for Unpacking Structural Racism framework, which guide our work from formative research to implementation and evaluation.

Emerging Pandemic Threats
Family Planning and Reproductive Health
Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health
HIV
Infectious Diseases
Immunization and Vaccines
Maternal and Newborn Health
Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
Sexually Transmitted Infections
Tuberculosis