We are mission-driven and results-focused, working to improve the health outcomes of people worldwide
Established in 1965, URC is a global company dedicated to improving the quality of health care, social services, and health education worldwide. With its non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services, URC manages projects in more than 40 countries including the United States and has about 700 employees around the world.
05/13/2025
IBI’s David Wall recently met with Sandra Jovel, a member of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, to discuss opportunities for collaboration in Guatemala, including economic growth activities that will benefit both Guatemala and the U.S.
IBI
01/16/2025
URC, as a proud member of this team, will support the Uganda Ministry of Health to operationalize key aspects of the National Community Health Strategy and strengthen community human resources for health performance, including:
• Strengthening community health financing, health coordination structures, and the health workforce registry;
• Developing and implementing community health workforce strategies, curriculum, guidelines, tools, and a scaleup plan;
• Strengthening the operations of the Regional Referral Hospital Public Health Departments and Community Health Departments; and
• Harmonizing community health workforce performance management systems and strategies.
Management Sciences for Health Partners with the Government of Uganda and USAID to Strengthen Ugandan Health System Arlington, VA—January 7, 2025—
01/16/2025
Join URC Chief Scientist Dennis Carroll at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2025 in Bangkok on Friday Jan. 31 and Saturday Feb. 1.
Carroll will moderate the opening plenary – entitled “Harnessing Technologies in an Age of AI to Build a Healthier World” – and give a talk during a side meeting on emerging mega-trends.
For the first time, Ghana will have one set of uniform, consistent definitions and descriptions affecting every aspect of healthcare for its citizens, thanks in part to support from a URC-led project.
Under the direction of the Ministry of Health, Ghana (MOH), the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) and its partners will lead the support of Ghana’s commitment to universal health coverage by creating a uniform set of standards for healthcare services, types of facilities, and the licensing and accreditation of those facilities. These actions will reduce inequities in healthcare while enhancing the quality and consistency of care for Ghana’s citizens.
The USAID Quality Services for Health Activity, implemented by URC, provides technical support to the MOH and HeFRA to enhance quality government structures and coordination of services, promoting high-quality services in public and private healthcare sectors.
USAID - US Agency for International Development
USAID West Africa
01/08/2025
As we close the book on 2024, IBI looks back on a year defined by transformation, growth, and impactful achievements. This year marked a significant milestone with our acquisition by URC, a globally recognized leader in healthcare quality improvement, and becoming IBI – A URC Company. This partner...
01/07/2025
Many healthcare professionals in the Philippines still adhere to outdated myths and misconceptions about drug users and addiction, according to a new study by the URC-led USAID RenewHealth Project.
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded URC a four-year, $7.8 million cooperative agreement to strengthen and provide access to HIV/AIDS services and prevention for military members and their families.
URC experts in TB shared their experience and knowledge at the The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2024 by giving six presentations and taking time to connect with URC booth visitors.
The safe childbirth checklist – a life-saving guide introduced to Jordanian hospitals with support from the USAID Health Services Quality Accelerator Activity – saved Um Jude’s life.
URC was awarded the USAID TB-Free Luzon Activity, the next chapter of our work in the to strengthen and increase access to services and prevent the spread of TB in the Philippines.
USAID - US Agency for International Development
USAID Philippines
12/23/2024
URC acquired IBI, a leading provider of international development consulting services, expanding URC’s breadth of management and leadership development expertise supporting national and local governments, communities, and the private sector.
The USAID Keneya Nieta team in Mali received the Vanguard Award from the International Stability Operations Association on June 20 for Keneya Nieta’s work under volatile security conditions.
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URC’s mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based solutions to health and social challenges worldwide.
For 50 years, URC has sought to combine the idealism of academic research with the pragmatism necessary in the real world. URC took its name from the founding partners, university professors who brought together talented people from the academic and scientific communities to address challenges of the 1960s and 1970s such as Head Start, hospital modernization, alcohol and drug abuse, and model cities. In 1968, URC established a non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), to link more directly with community services in the US.
The late 1970s and the 1980s witnessed rapid growth: URC excelled in job competencies training and job analysis for early childhood educators, hospital personnel, drug abuse workers, criminal justice staff, and the military. URC specialized in training, technical assistance, and instructional design, successfully operating projects in substance abuse treatment, criminal justice, child support enforcement, community rehabilitation training, reducing school violence, and family planning.
This was also a period of expansion into international work in the Philippines, Egypt, Colombia, and Tunisia through contracts with the United Nations and other organizations. In 1981, with the Primary Health Care Operations Research Project (PRICOR), URC began working internationally in public health and soon became the lead organization for primary health care operations research with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
For nearly 20 years, URC provided global leadership for health care quality assurance in USAID-supported programs through the Quality Assurance Project (QAP) I, II, and III. QAP provided technical assistance and conducted operations research on health care quality improvement. This work helped to raise awareness in countries and internationally that quality improvement (QI) is an essential component of health system strengthening and that quality standards and QI capacity development are vital to the development of health care systems in even the most resource-constrained countries.
As the new millennium approached, URC added instructional technology to its portfolio, with projects for the US Army, Social Security Administration, US Navy, Office of Personnel Management, Federal Aviation Administration, and Goddard Space Flight Center. At that time, URC also launched major health communications, social marketing, and materials development programs, setting the stage for ground-breaking work to reduce cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol, asthma, obesity and nutrition, smoking, substance abuse, eye health, and teen pregnancy.
In 2000, URC built expertise in health communications and social marketing, developing and implementing media campaigns to support prevention of underage drinking, asthma, and heart disease; training journalist on health reporting; as well as providing organizational assessments and strategic planning support for the DC Department of Health and others throughout the East Coast.
In 2015, URC's expertise centers on maternal, newborn, and child health; HIV/AIDS; tuberculosis; malaria; reproductive health and family planning; food and nutrition; and vulnerable children and families. It approaches the challenges rising from these health areas through quality improvement, health systems strengthening, health communication and behavior change, and research and evaluation.
From its beginning, URC combined the idealism of the era and the rigor of academic research with the pragmatism necessary to achieve results in the real world. Our three founders—two of them university professors—brought together talented people from the academic and scientific communities to address the challenges of the age.
URC got its start providing education and training services across the US. From Head Start teachers to the drug and alcohol addicted, we designed our programs to meet the needs of a diverse body of trainees and the communities in which they lived.
In 1968, URC founded the Center for Human Services, our non-profit affiliate, in order to broaden the range of opportunities available to reach and serve the communities in which we worked.
Building on our domestic experience, URC began its international work with a project in Tunisia in 1980. From there the company grew quickly. By the end of 1985, we were working in more than 30 countries across the world.
