Partnership for a Lead-free Future: Join the launch at the UN General Assembly

UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are convening public and private partners to launch the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future to address the scourge of lead poisoning in children in low-and-middle income countries, where over 90 per cent of the global harm from lead occurs. 

Join us online or in-person at the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York City on 23 September 2024. In-person capacity is limited and is subject to review and approval. Spanish and French translations will be offered at the event.

Lead exposure has profoundly detrimental and widespread effects. One in two children in low- and middle-income countries has blood lead levels of significant concern, due to exposure from consumer goods (such as paint, spices, cookware, and toys) and from industrial contamination (such as substandard battery recycling practices). As a potent neurotoxicant, its effects are far reaching across development and learning, morbidity and mortality, and economic outcomes:

• Irreversible IQ losses in children: Lead exposure has irreversible neurotoxic effects on children’s cognitive development. Lead causes an average 6 per cent reduction in IQ globally, causing a nearly 60 per cent increase in children with intellectual disability, and is estimated to account for 20 percent of the gap in learning levels between children in high versus low-income countries.
• Devastating health impacts: Maternal exposure to lead, even at low levels, can result in reduced fetal growth, lower birth weight, premature birth and spontaneous abortion. Accumulated lead is a serious risk factor for cardiovascular disease causing at least 1.5 million deaths, more than tuberculosis, malaria or HIV/AIDS.
• Economic Damage: Lead results in significant annual losses to the global economy, leading to a loss in productivity of at least $1.4 trillion in global GDP (creating 3 to 5 per cent drag on GDP in many low- and middle-income countries). 

The good news is that lead is a tractable problem, as demonstrated by the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles launched in the 2000s that eliminated lead from gasoline globally. Efforts have phased out lead in consumer products in most high-income countries through regulations transitioning industries to cost-comparable lead-free alternatives. 

The Partnership for a Lead-Free Future aims to unite governments, organizations, and stakeholders in a concerted effort to end childhood lead poisoning.  

Photo caption: A mother cuddling her baby, in Bobo-Dioulasso, in the Southwest of Burkina Faso. Kohl is a widely used traditional cosmetic. It is mainly worn around the eyes in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. It may be a pervasive source of lead poisoning in those areas.