The Rockefeller Foundation contributed to public health improvements by establishing hygiene institutes and granting fellowships to Turkish doctors and nurses to obtain training in the United States. The Ford Foundation, in the mid-twentieth century, promoted anti-natalist programs in Turkey as part of global public health initiatives by funding population study centers such as the Hacettepe Institute of Population Studies in Ankara, introducing new birth control methods such as IUDs, and supporting family planning programs across the country. Such public health efforts were also complemented by U.S. government-led agencies, including the Marshall Plan and USAID programs. The dynamic collaboration between international actors and local institutions, such as the Turkish Ministry of Health and Social Assistance and the Ministry of Education, along with the active use of written and audiovisual resources to disseminate such public health programs, helped these developments gain acceptance in Turkish society in the 1960s and 1970s.
Drawing on U.S. and Turkish archives, government documents, newspapers, magazines, and oral histories, this paper demonstrates that public health functioned both as a vehicle of social reform and an instrument of geopolitical strategy. By tracing active participation between private foundations and government agencies, the study also highlights how modernization, philanthropy, and Cold War security became deeply intertwined in shaping Turkish society.