3 reasons why Open Philanthropy is investing in a lead-free future

During this week’s U.N. General Assembly, Open Philanthropy joined the U.S. government and other organizations in launching a new partnership to tackle an often neglected health issue that affects millions globally, particularly children. Lead poisoning kills over 1.5 million people globally every year — more than the combined deaths from HIV and malaria. Yet it doesn’t attract significant attention and funding. Despite the scale of the problem, it only attracts just $15 million in international funding each year. But this is changing. This week, USAID, UNICEF, and Open Philanthropy launched the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, a global coalition whose aim is to end childhood lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries. Together, they’re committing over $150 million for the initiative, 10 times more than what is currently spent to tackle the problem. Open Philanthropy also launched a fund this week backed by several philanthropic foundations and funds to realize a world free of lead exposure. Commitments to this Lead Exposure Action Fund have already topped $100 million. Open Philanthropy, which takes an evidence-based approach to grantmaking, and is part of the “effective altruism” movement, made lead exposure a priority back in 2023. Speaking at a Devex event on the sidelines of UNGA, James Snowden, who oversees the foundation’s global health and well-being programs on policy and effective altruism, said they are guided by three key pillars when deciding on which programs to focus on: importance, neglectedness, and tractability. They look at how much damage a particular problem causes, who else is working on it, and whether it’s possible to make progress in addressing it, he said. Lead exposure checks all the boxes. “Almost always, we get two of those, not three,” Snowden said. “Lead exposure is one of the most exciting areas that I've ever worked on, and I think it really hits all three.” The scale of the problem and the lack of funding that goes to lead poisoning check the first two. As for the third, Snowden pointed to the progress made in the U.S. “[In] the U.S., in the 1970s, rates of lead exposure were higher than they are anywhere in the world today … and they've now come down over 95% largely due to the elimination of leaded gasoline. And so it is possible to make progress on this issue, and I'm excited to get started,” he said. Snowden also talked about how they plan to address the problem, and some of the challenges and opportunities they’re seeing.