Decatur-based global health nonprofit marks 40 years of impact and partnership

Four decades ago, a unique event set in motion a remarkable series of achievements benefitting people around the globe, which continue today and are shaping the next 40 years. Atlanta-based global health organizations are playing a key role in this progress.

In 1980, the world was declared free of smallpox — the only human disease to ever be eradicated. The person who led that effort was Bill Foege, who served as CDC director until 1983 and then helped launch an initiative to ensure that children everywhere could be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.

In 1984, a group of 34 global health experts met to discuss a critical challenge: how to reduce the number of children contracting and dying of diseases like measles, polio, and diphtheria. With five sponsoring agencies — the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Rockefeller Foundation — participants launched The Task Force for Child Survival, with Foege at the helm. He established The Task Force in Atlanta as an affiliate of Emory University and brought on two former CDC colleagues, Bill Watson and Carol Walters, as co-founders.

Within just six years, Task Force partners quadrupled the share of children worldwide who had received at least one vaccination to 80 percent. The head of UNICEF declared this the “largest peacetime achievement that the world had ever seen” at the September 1990 World Summit for Children at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

The Task Force’s success drew the attention of others with bold goals, leading to a wide range of partnerships to eliminate diseases, ensure access to vaccines, and build strong health systems around the world. Today, the organization, now known as The Task Force for Global Health, works in more than 150 countries.

In May, The Task Force marked its 40th anniversary with an event at its Decatur headquarters.  More than 170 Task Force partners — from government, nonprofits, foundations, the private sector and philanthropy — gathered to unveil The William H. Foege Collaboration Center and celebrate four decades of collaboration and global health impact. 

During this period the world has:

● Reduced childhood mortality by 60 percent 

● Helped 50 countries eliminate at least one neglected tropical disease 

● Reduced polio by 99 percent

The celebration featured remarks from Foege; U.S. State Department Ambassador John Nkengasong, who leads the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy; World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Congresswoman Nikema Williams, who represents Georgia’s Fifth District, home to The Task Force; Task Force CEO Patrick O’Carroll; Task Force Board Chair Kent Alexander; and Malembe Ebama, who leads a Task Force program known as SONAR, which helps countries in Africa and Asia build early-warning disease surveillance systems to respond to outbreaks.

“The Task Force for Global Health and its partners exemplify what can be achieved when we work together with humanity, clarity of purpose, and humility,” said Conrad N. Hilton III, board member of the Hilton Foundation, which in 2016 awarded The Task Force the Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest annual humanitarian award, presented to a nonprofit organization judged to have made extraordinary contributions to alleviating human suffering. 

Hilton continued: “It’s a simple concept, but the impact has been tremendous. Speaking of impact, there is no way that we can celebrate The Task Force’s 40 years of life-saving work without recognizing the remarkable Dr. Bill Foege. Dr. Foege’s decades of leadership, commitment, passion, and helping people facing disadvantage across this country and around the world have been truly transformative.”

Guests included representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, The Carter Center,  the Gates Foundation, CDC Foundation, City of Decatur, Agnes Scott College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, Merck, Spelman College, DeKalb Public Health and other Task Force partners.

DeKalb County Commissioner Michelle Spears delivered a proclamation from the Commission recognizing The Task Force for its extraordinary contributions to global health and designating May 9, 2024 “Task Force for Global Health Day” in DeKalb County. 

Later this year, The Task Force will host an open house at its Decatur headquarters. Click here for more information about The Task Force and see photos and videos from the May event here.