CGD Lead Poisoning Bi-weekly Update, June 26

New Publications and Resources

• Schools in the Shadow of Toxic Sites: Pollution Proximity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Lee Crawfurd. CGD working paper and blog. Lee overlays contaminated-site data with school-location data from 17 LMICs and finds 250,000+ schools (about 10 percent of the total) within 5 km of a known polluted site; in seven countries with enrolment data, 43 million pupils attend such schools. The blog notes this is likely an undercount. Lee points to better toxic site registries, school siting rules, low-cost testing, and hygiene measures around affected schools. See coverage from Ghana and Mexico (x2).

• Research Grants to Build Evidence on Global Lead Poisoning: How-To-Apply Guide and Q&A. CGD Event. Watch the recording of CGD’s Live Q&A for our Request for Proposals on lead poisoning research.

• What We Are Learning About Lead in 2026. Caroline Mallory, Theo Mitchell, Maria Jose Talayero Schettino, Nidhi Rao, and Lee Crawfurd. CGD Blog. A roundup from CGD’s second annual research conference.

• The World Bank Has Invested $3 Billion in Drinking Water. We Don’t Know if the Water Has Lead. Lee Crawfurd and Caroline Mallory. CGD Blog. Lee and Caroline scanned documents for 81 active World Bank water-supply projects across 47 countries and found no project committing to lead testing in drinking water or plumbing parts; future projects could add low-cost safeguards through lead-free procurement specs and tap testing.

• Lead-battery recycling must be regulated. The Daily Star. A Daily Star editorial calls for Bangladesh to track and regulate the lead-acid battery chain, citing roughly 480,000 tonnes of annual battery waste and about 80 percent informal or illegal recycling.

• Lead Exposure, Anemia, and School Readiness among Low-Income Urban Children in Bihar, India: A Longitudinal Study. Aditi Roy et al. Preprints with The Lancet/SSRN. This preprint followed 522 low-income preschool children in four high-risk neighborhoods, with 98 percent above 3.5 µg/dL and the 90th percentile at 40 µg/dL.

• Ethiopia Reinvigorates National Leadership and Governance Mechanisms to Accelerate Lead Poisoning Prevention. Ashenafi Dereje. Pure Earth. Ethiopia has reactivated and restructured its National Lead Coordinating Committee.

Job Opportunities

• The Clinton Health Access Initiative is hiring two Associate Directors for Lead Exposure, one on market shaping and one on governance strategy & operations.

Upcoming Events

• Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Geological Society of America. This technical session at GSA’s Connects 2026 annual meeting in Denver will focus on lead and other contaminants; oral and poster abstracts are invited on contaminant fate, health impacts, and studies with strong outreach or societal relevance. Abstracts are due August 6, 2026.

• Lead in the Environment: Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Community Engagement, and Remediation. Mineralogical Society of America and Geochemical Society. This short course and workshop will be held October 7-9, 2026, at the Colorado School of Mines, with a virtual option; sessions cover Pb geochemistry, sources, exposure pathways, community engagement, and remediation, with less technical parallel sessions for non-scientists. In person registration, Virtual Registration.

Other Announcements

• CHAI and Renaissance Philanthropy are inviting public feedback on a draft Target Product Profile (TPP) for a rapid, low-cost, point-of-care screening test for elevated blood lead levels. The TPP is intended to send a clear signal to the market on what a fit-for-purpose blood lead screening tool should deliver, helping align developers, funders, procurers, and public health stakeholders around solutions that can improve access to testing and strengthen public health action on lead exposure. The public comment period will be open from June 17 through July 8. Input is welcome from all interested individuals and organisations, including anyone with perspectives on lead exposure, diagnostics, screening, public health, implementation, product development, procurement, funding, policy, or related areas.