USAID Administrator Samantha Power and Georgia’s Prime Minister calls for a global effort to end childhood lead (Pb) poisoning

While lead (Pb) kills more people each year in low- and middle-income countries than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, it is a solvable crisis.  

Lead (Pb) exposure may account for upwards of one fifth of the educational gap between rich and poor countries and creates at least a $1 trillion drag on the global economy. Despite all of this, funding by donors toward lead mitigation efforts in low- and middle-income countries amounts to approximately $15 million per year.

During the World Economic Forum, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Tanzania’s Minister of State for Labour, Economic Affairs and Investment Mudrick Soragha discussed the need for this historically neglected issue to garner more attention, resources and investment. With one in two children in low- and middle-income countries being poisoned by lead, urgent action is needed now. 

During the discussion, Power announced that USAID will join the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint and a $4 million commitment for lead mitigation efforts. This work will include USAID engagement in India and South Africa, as well as conducting a nationwide survey in Bangladesh of blood lead levels in children with UNICEF.

Garibashvili shared the changes the Government of Georgia has made since they discovered in 2018 that 41 per cent of children in Georgia had elevated blood lead levels from a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Over the last five years, with UNICEF support, Georgia has significantly upgraded its institutional capabilities, laboratory and surveillance capacity, front line services, regulatory action, enforcement and accountability mechanisms to end childhood lead poisoning. The Government and UNICEF continue to work to end childhood lead exposure. 

Learn about the lessons from Georgia 

In Tanzania, the Government passed a lead paint law in 2016 and signed up to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in 1999. Soragha emphasized the importance of regulation, as well as the need for broader education on the topic of lead poisoning in his intervention. 

The panelists reaffirmed the need to pursue a lasting solution to this challenge and ensure that every child has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment – starting with ending childhood lead poisoning.