Pure Earth announced today that it has been named an Audacious Project grantee, receiving a major multi-year investment to help governments in more than 20 countries reduce childhood lead poisoning at scale and protect over 500 million children by 2033.

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Lead poisoning is estimated to affect one billion children worldwide, damaging brain development, limiting learning, reducing lifetime earnings, and increasing the risk of lifelong illness. More than 90% of these children are in low- and middle-income countries. Lead exposure also contributes to poor maternal and newborn health outcomes and raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, resulting in 3.5 million premature deaths each year, more than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV combined.

Through The Audacious Project, Pure Earth will work with governments and partners across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to strengthen national systems to prevent lead exposure. The initiative will support countries to generate nationally representative data on blood lead levels, identify the most harmful sources of lead exposure, such as contaminated consumer products and unsafe lead recycling, and implement targeted, government-led interventions, from regulatory reforms to environmental remediation.

“Lead poisoning is entirely preventable, yet it continues to harm children on a massive scale, with exposure levels often unmeasured and unaddressed,” said Drew McCartor, President of Pure Earth. “This Audacious investment allows us to build on more than 25 years of experience and expand partnerships with governments to establish durable national systems that reduce exposure and protect generations of children.”

“For more than two decades, Pure Earth has quietly but powerfully built the infrastructure for change,” said Ambassador Samantha Power, former Administrator of USAID. “Their approach combines scientific rigor with practical delivery and reflects the actual needs of affected countries. The potential impact of this initiative is profound and goes beyond public health, touching virtually every major development goal, and over time unlocking significant untapped educational, and ultimately economic potential.”

The scale of the crisis carries significant economic consequences. The global cost of lead poisoning is estimated at $6 trillion annually, nearly seven percent of global GDP. Lead exposure is estimated to account for more than 20% of the learning gap between children in rich and poor countries.

This effort comes at a critical inflection point, as global awareness and political commitment to end childhood lead poisoning accelerate through the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future. Launched in 2024, the Partnership serves as a global platform for action — aligning governments, funders, and implementing organizations behind a shared roadmap to end childhood lead poisoning. Early leadership from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy) has helped catalyze international action around one of the world’s largest preventable environmental health threats. The work supported through The Audacious Project will both advance and be propelled by this growing global movement.

“Through our recently launched Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, we are helping governments strengthen policies, expand testing and surveillance, and eliminate the most dangerous sources of lead,” said Dr. Kelly Henning, who leads public health programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “The Audacious Project’s new investment in Pure Earth builds on a shared focus on strengthening government capacity, and together these efforts can accelerate progress and scale solutions to deliver lasting health benefits for communities globally.”

Pure Earth’s new initiative builds on decades of evidence showing that decisive national action can sharply reduce lead exposure in just a few years. Following the phase-out of leaded gasoline, the United States reduced children’s blood lead levels by more than 75 percent, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic benefits through improved cognitive outcomes and productivity.

“Pure Earth occupies a rare and essential role in the global lead ecosystem,” said Dr. Tom Hird of Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy). “They are uniquely capable of supporting governments end-to-end, from national surveillance and exposure source identification to regulatory and behavioral change. Pure Earth has been one of our most significant and longest-standing grantees in this space, and we are pleased to continue our collaboration by joining The Audacious Project funders to help expand this critical work.”

Our Audacious idea cannot be achieved without the experience and contribution of our collaborators, including the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, UNICEF, Vital Strategies, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

About Pure Earth

Pure Earth is a global leader in improving public health and development outcomes by reducing exposure to lead and other toxic pollutants. We work closely with governments to embed evidence-based, sustainable solutions into public systems at the national scale. By translating data into action and pairing technical expertise with local partnerships, Pure Earth designs and delivers practical interventions that reduce poisoning risks, strengthen public response systems, and support long-term health and economic progress. www.pureearth.org

ABOUT THE AUDACIOUS PROJECT

Launched in 2018, The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative dedicated to supporting bold ideas with the potential to change the world. Housed at TED and powered by the belief that ideas change everything, Audacious leverages a global network of visionary social entrepreneurs and funders to support bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. Audacious is issue-agnostic and supports grantees to balance audacity and achievability for lasting, systemic impact. Since 2018, Audacious has helped to catalyze over $7 billion for 70 projects, demonstrating what’s possible when we dream bigger and act together. The funding community includes respected donors and philanthropists including ELMA Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, MacKenzie Scott, Pivotal Ventures, Reed Hastings and Patty Quillin, Skoll Foundation, Valhalla Foundation and more.

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“For more than two decades, Pure Earth has quietly but powerfully built the infrastructure for change,” said Ambassador Samantha Power, former Administrator of USAID.