CGD Lead Poisoning Bi-weekly Update, October 3

New Publications and Resources

• Toward a Lead-Free Future: Mobilizing to End Childhood Lead Exposure. Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (PLF). The PLF UNGA event featured a speech from the Prime Minister of Bhutan, urging other countries to learn from Bhutan’s example and prioritize lead mitigation. UNICEF also used the event to launch a $1.6 billion investment case to end childhood lead poisoning by 2040; they anticipate that this level of resourcing could cut lead childhood poisoning in half by 2033 and end it entirely by 2040.

• Mobilizing to End Childhood Lead Poisoning: Year 1 Progress Update. Partnership for a Lead-Free Future. The PLF’s first progress report showcases exemplars of national efforts to address lead exposure, including new lead paint regulations in Liberia, Nigeria, Cambodia, and Sierra Leone; reductions in the market share of lead paint in Malawi; national blood-lead surveys in Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Kyrgyzstan; and Indonesia’s new clinical guidelines to treat lead exposure.

• Toward a Lead Free Future: The Fase for Action Now. Devex. Tom Hird from Open Philanthropy (OP), Jenna Forsyth from Stanford University, and Abdullah Fadil from the PLF make the case for why lead poisoning remains a top development priority, even when considering other urgent needs under discussion at UNGA. OP estimates that the removal of lead from turmeric in Bangladesh may save 20,000 lives over the next 5 years, costing less than $100 per life saved. Panelists noted that 20 national BLL surveys are now either planned, underway, or completed.

• Improving the Lead Impact Model Biokinetic modeling for lead exposure attribution. Rethink Priorities. An exploratory report revises Pure Earth’s Lead Impact Model, which uses biokinetic modeling and cumulative population blood lead levels (cpBLLs) to estimate national burdens from individual exposure sources. Due to data limitations, the model is not yet appropriate to inform decision-making; however, it highlights remaining research needs, including nationally representative screening of consumer products and research into ingestion pathways from industrial pollution.

• Using Lead Isotopes as Tracers of Ocean Pollution. Olivelli. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. Isotopic analysis confirms reduced lead concentrations in the world’s oceans since the banning of leaded petrol.

• Environmental Lead Risk in the 21st Century. Chen et al. Communications Earth & Environment. The authors estimate that ongoing childhood lead exposure costs the world over $3.4 trillion per year in lost economic productivity from cognition loss, using country-specific returns to education. This compares to recent estimates of $1.4 trillion from Larsen & Sánchez-Triana (2023).

• FG Inaugurates National Working Group to Eliminate Lead Poisoning in Nigeria. Arise News. Nigeria has launched a new National Interagency Working Group on Lead Poisoning Elimination. The group will drive a five-year national strategy to combat the country’s lead crisis, following deadly outbreaks in Zamfara and Sokoto in 2024. The plan includes expanded surveillance, soil remediation, the provision of lab equipment and chelation therapy, and stronger coordination across government ministries, regulators, civil society, and international partners such as UNICEF, WHO, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

• The Long-Lasting Effects of Early Childhood Lead Exposure: Evidence from Piston-Engine Aircraft Emissions. Duong and Zhong. A PhD dissertation finds that even extremely low ambient lead levels harm children’s learning. Using variation in small-aircraft traffic and wind near Texas schools, the study shows that an increase in air lead from 0.01 µg/m³ to 0.04 µg/m³ (well below the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 0.15 µg/m) reduced 4th-grade reading and math scores by 0.06–0.07 standard deviations and increased absences, suspensions, and later earnings losses.

Job Opportunities

• The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is hiring a Director to launch its new Lead Exposure Program (location flexible within CHAI program countries, with ~20% travel). The program will focus on market shaping (e.g., driving adoption of lead-free products and expanding access to diagnostics), governance and coordination with governments, and improving measurement and surveillance systems.

Upcoming Events

• WHO is hosting the 13th International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW 2025) from 19 to 25 October 2025 with the theme of No safe level: act now to end lead exposure. You can register your events here and access the campaign website here.

Funding Opportunities

• Pure Earth has launched a new Opportunity Fund, which will support projects that advance the communal understanding of lead poisoning prevention, interventions, and policies, prioritising low-and middle-income countries. Grants ranging from USD $10,000 to $100,000 will be awarded to projects that should be completed in approximately 12 months.