I believe that Lafiya ($900ish), Development Media International ($600ish), and a few others on there are under estimated $2k per life saved. Some estimates are more certain than others, and estimates of past programs may not translate to future programs.
Away from the current candidates, there’s also Taimaka for which future donations may well get a lot under $2k per life saved due to partnership scaling, the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (which doesn’t necessarily *save* lots of lives but has very cost-effective DALYs). I don’t know if these have funding gaps though.
There’s also One for the World which will get under $2k per life saved by using your money to raise several times more for the Against Malaria Foundation (probably) than you donate to it.
Overall, the answer is yes—saving a life is cheaper and cheaper.
Just did a quick scan and Lafiya https://​​lafiyanigeria.org/​​ has Gates Foundation on its sponsor list, so yes I do believe Bill Gates has saved lives for under $2k.
You may be interested in our donation election! https://​​forum.effectivealtruism.org/​​posts/​​YqYSGpRbLa7ppkuWs/​​meet-the-candidates-donation-election-2025 - all organisations on it have legitimate funding gaps.
I believe that Lafiya ($900ish), Development Media International ($600ish), and a few others on there are under estimated $2k per life saved. Some estimates are more certain than others, and estimates of past programs may not translate to future programs.
Away from the current candidates, there’s also Taimaka for which future donations may well get a lot under $2k per life saved due to partnership scaling, the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (which doesn’t necessarily *save* lots of lives but has very cost-effective DALYs). I don’t know if these have funding gaps though.
There’s also One for the World which will get under $2k per life saved by using your money to raise several times more for the Against Malaria Foundation (probably) than you donate to it.
Overall, the answer is yes—saving a life is cheaper and cheaper.
Just did a quick scan and Lafiya https://​​lafiyanigeria.org/​​ has Gates Foundation on its sponsor list, so yes I do believe Bill Gates has saved lives for under $2k.