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.
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 loss of 5.9 IQ points per child. The Center for Global Development estimates that damage lead causes to childrens’ brains accounts for 20 per cent of the learning gap between high- and 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 US$1.4 trillion in global GDP (creating a 2.2 per cent drag on GDP in 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.
Speakers:
- Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States
- Excelentísimo Señor Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona, Presidente de la República Dominicana
- His Excellency Mr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi and Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi Defence Force
- His Excellency Mr. Ramchandra Paudel, President of Nepal
- Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
- Ajay Banga, President World Bank
- Alexander Berger, CEO of Open Philanthropy
- Aliko Dangote, Dangote Foundation
- Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization
- Samantha Power, Administrator, USAID
- Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF
- Anita Zaidi, President of Gender Equality, Gates Foundation
