Giving Compass' Take:
- Emily Oehlsen, Deena Mousa, and Jamie Simonson spotlight the accomplishments of Open Philanthropy's global health and well-being grantees in 2024.
- What can be learned from these accomplishments? How can funders continue to support impactful progress towards improved global public health policy?
- Learn more about best practices in philanthropy.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits in your area.
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In 2024, Open Philanthropy’s grantees in Global Health and Well-being (GHW) portfolio made progress toward developing a next-generation malaria vaccine, successfully advocated for U.K. retailers to adopt a new welfare standard that we expect to improve conditions for 350 million chickens, and contributed to reducing exposure to lead — one of the world’s deadliest pollutants — among many other important developments.
This post highlights some examples of our GHW portfolio’s progress in 2024, in particular how we believe our grantees’ work has improved lives in measurable, cost-effective ways. If you want to support our grantees’ work, many of them provide opportunities for direct donations, which are linked at the end.
Grantees' Global Public Health Policy Accomplishments
In November 2023, we launched our newest program area to address global health and well-being, Global Public Health Policy, to tackle major yet underfunded health challenges such as air pollution, lead exposure, and suicide by pesticide ingestion.
Center for Global Development, Pure Earth, Lead Exposure Elimination Project, and Pahle India
At this year’s U.N. General Assembly, we launched the Lead Exposure Action Fund, a collaborative fund that raised over $100 million to tackle lead exposure. Lead exposure is estimated to kill over 1.5 million people a year, but only received $10–15 million per year from philanthropic actors prior to these efforts.
LEAF has already started making grants to support groups such as the Center for Global Development, Pure Earth, the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, and Pahle India. These organizations work to measure lead pollution, mitigate exposure, and attract mainstream attention to the issue among governments and key stakeholders. Their work contributed to establishing the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (PLF), a global public-private partnership dedicated to reducing lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These efforts will double annual philanthropic spending on lead exposure in LMICs, addressing a critical funding gap.
EPIC Air Quality Data Gaps Fund
The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) launched the Air Quality Data Gaps Fund to address a critical gap: air pollution kills an estimated 4 million people in LMICs each year, yet nearly 40% of countries lack comprehensive public air quality data.
The Fund, a regranting initiative, supports local actors in countries with high air pollution levels in establishing low-cost sensor networks to provide data on air pollution where none currently exists. The goal of collecting this data is to increase awareness among citizens and government agencies, which research suggests may prompt policymakers to address pollution and improve air quality.
Read the full article about global health and well-being grantees by Emily Oehlsen, Deena Mousa, and Jamie Simonson at Open Philanthropy.