CGD Lead Poisoning Update
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CGD Lead Poisoning Bi-weekly Update, March 6

CGD Lead Poisoning Bi-weekly Update, March 6

Theo Mitchell & Rachel Bonnifield
March 06, 2026

Dear Colleagues,

Sharing here CGD’s bi-weekly update on lead poisoning publications, events, job opportunities, and funding announcements.

We welcome submissions for future newsletters at this link. New subscribers can sign up at this link, and existing subscribers can remove themselves from future updates via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. We will also invite the new subscribers to join our monthly check-in call.

With best wishes,

Rachel Bonnifield
Director of Global Health Policy and Senior Fellow
Center for Global Development

New Publications and Resources

Lead-Safe Off-Grid Electrification: Understanding the Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rachel Bonnifield and Caroline Mallory. Center for Global Development. We estimate that off-grid solar may account for 13-47% of the region’s lead-acid battery waste. Read our blog here. See Matthew Yglesias’s thoughts on the report on his substack.
If you haven’t already, consider signing up to the excellent lead poisoning newsletter from the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future. (Other great lead newsletters include those from LeRA, LEEP, and Pure Earth.)
LEAD: How This Story Ends is Up to Us. End Lead Poisoning Podcast. Listen to the interview with Senior Advisor Abheet Solomon in their latest episode.
Lead (again). Aveek Bhattacharya. Aveek argues that the UK is failing to detect most cases of childhood lead poisoning because testing remains largely reactive rather than systematic. Meanwhile MPs and peers call for all UK children to be screened for lead.

Job Opportunities

Lead Research for Action is hiring a Research Manager and an Operations Manager, who will be the third and fourth members of a growing team. Read more about the opportunities here.

Upcoming Events

Register here to attend CGD’s Second Annual Research Conference on Global Lead Exposure. It is being hosted on Wednesday, 3 June and Thursday, 4 June in London and livestreamed.

Other Announcements

Pure Earth has been named a 2025 Audacious Project grantee. They plan on expanding their work into additional countries.