RSS

Lead Ex­po­sure Elimi­na­tion Project

TagLast edit: Jan 16, 2024, 6:25 PM by Rían O.M

The Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for regulation of lead paint in low-income countries.

LEEP launched in October 2020 with the help of a $60,000 incubation grant by Charity Entrepreneurship.[1]

Since being founded, six of LEEP’s government partners (Malawi, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Pakistan and Ghana) have committed to increasing regulations regarding lead paints.[2]

Malawi

In November 2020 LEEP began investigating the concentration of lead in Malawi solvent-based paints. [3]

Results showed that 57% of paints and 75% of brands analysed contained dangerously high levels of lead (greater than 90ppm, the maximum level recommended by the WHO). 52% of paints had lead content greater than 600ppm and 9% had a lead content greater than 10,000ppm The highest lead content of the paints analysed was 17,000ppm.”

LEEP’s findings resulted in a commitment by the Malawi Bureau of Standards to implement a ban on lead paint. [4]A follow up study was published in December 2023:

LEEP and the Malawi Bureau of Standards conducted a new study to assess recent changes in lead paint levels in Malawi. Taking into account estimated market share data, the results suggest that the market share of brands selling lead paint for home use has reduced from approximately 67% in 2021 to 24% in 2023.

The main driver of this reduction was that the study did not detect lead in the samples from Malawi’s most popular paint brand, which previously had high levels of lead. This brand is estimated to have approximately 45% of market share, and the study results suggest that it has switched to lead-free following LEEP’s engagement.

In 2021 LEEP carried out a similar investigation in Botswana during February of 2021, however “results showed that none of the paints analysed in Botswana contained greater than 100ppm of lead.” The research did note that it was unclear whether the relevant paints were below the recommended limit of 90ppm.[3]

Madagascar

Beginning in June 2021, LEEP (in cooperation with the government of Madagascar) began a study to determine the lead content of available paints in Madagascar.[5]

This study found that 36 out of 59 paints sampled (61%) contained dangerous levels of lead (with a total lead concentration above 90 parts per million, ppm, by dry weight). 26 samples (44%) contained total lead concentrations above 600ppm. The highest lead content detected—measured in two samples— was 10,000ppm, which is over 110 times the recommended limit.

According to LEEP, the Malagasy government has begun steps to regulate the sale, manufacture and importation of lead paint.

Impact

A cost-effectiveness analysis by LEEP estimates that their intervention to implement lead paint regulation in Malawi has a cost per disability-adjusted life-year of approximately $14.[6]

Further reading

Rafferty, Jack & Lucia Coulter (2020) Introducing LEEP: Lead Exposure Elimination Project, Effective Altruism Forum, October 6.

Rafferty, Jack & Lucia Coulter (2021) Seven things that surprised us in our first year working in policy—Lead Exposure Elimination Project, Effective Altruism Forum, May 14.

External links

Lead Exposure Elimination Project. Official website.

Apply for a job.

Related entries

Charity Entrepreneurship | global health and development | policy change

  1. ^

    Charity Entrepreneurship (2020) Presenting: 2020 Incubated Charities, Charity Entrepreneurship Blog, October 13.

  2. ^
  3. ^

    LEEP (2021) Study Results: Malawi and Botswana, LEEP’s Blog, July 13.

  4. ^

    Bernard, David & Jason Schukraft (2021) Global lead exposure report, Effective Altruism Forum, May 29.

  5. ^
  6. ^

    Hu, James (2022) How cost-effective is LEEP’s Malawi program?, LEEP’s Blog, January 13.

In­tro­duc­ing LEEP: Lead Ex­po­sure Elimi­na­tion Project

JackOct 6, 2020, 7:25 AM
171 points
25 comments5 min readEA link

Seven things that sur­prised us in our first year work­ing in policy—Lead Ex­po­sure Elimi­na­tion Pro­ject

JackMay 14, 2021, 9:40 AM
244 points
8 comments7 min readEA link

Seven (more) learn­ings from LEEP

ClareDonaldsonJun 17, 2022, 8:32 AM
131 points
11 comments7 min readEA link

Lead ex­po­sure: a shal­low cause exploration

JoelMcGuireApr 11, 2023, 5:49 PM
71 points
1 comment32 min readEA link

Global lead ex­po­sure report

David BernardMay 29, 2021, 4:56 PM
126 points
2 comments47 min readEA link

AMA, James Snow­den, Open Philanthropy

James Snowden🔸Sep 28, 2024, 1:43 AM
90 points
24 comments1 min readEA link

Ex­po­sure to Lead Paint in Low- and Mid­dle-In­come Countries

Rethink PrioritiesMar 14, 2023, 8:43 AM
45 points
0 comments2 min readEA link
(rethinkpriorities.org)

I In­ter­viewed Luke Free­man, the Ex­ec­u­tive Direc­tor of GWWC. Here’s What he said about Riskier Charities

SereneDesireeSep 1, 2021, 9:02 AM
12 points
1 comment1 min readEA link

Five New EA Char­i­ties with High Po­ten­tial for Impact

Joey🔸Oct 14, 2020, 12:15 PM
132 points
14 comments6 min readEA link

LEEP(鉛暴露排除プロジェクト)の紹介

EA JapanJul 25, 2023, 6:16 AM
1 point
0 comments1 min readEA link

[Question] I’m in­ter­view­ing the co-Founder of the Lead Ex­po­sure Elimi­na­tion Pro­ject, Lu­cia Coulter. What should I ask her?

Robert_WiblinOct 9, 2023, 6:18 PM
70 points
6 comments1 min readEA link

[Opz­ionale] È nato LEEP: il Lead Ex­po­sure Elimi­na­tion Project

EA ItalyDec 31, 2022, 3:52 AM
1 point
0 comments1 min readEA link
(altruismoefficace.it)

In­ter­view with Lu­cia Coulter: Lead Ex­po­sure, Effec­tive Altru­ism, Progress in Malawi

Erich_Grunewald 🔸Jul 3, 2021, 2:32 PM
25 points
0 comments2 min readEA link
(www.erichgrunewald.com)

HLI’s Giv­ing Sea­son 2023 Re­search Overview

Happier Lives InstituteNov 28, 2023, 2:03 PM
53 points
4 comments19 min readEA link
(www.happierlivesinstitute.org)

#175 – Prevent­ing lead poi­son­ing for $1.66 per child (Lu­cia Coulter on the 80,000 Hours Pod­cast)

80000_HoursDec 15, 2023, 8:15 PM
76 points
0 comments15 min readEA link

Could you lead a lead elimi­na­tion pro­gram? LEEP is hiring!

Marta Strzyga 🔸Dec 16, 2024, 10:19 AM
15 points
0 comments1 min readEA link

Ask Giv­ing What We Can any­thing, all week

GraceAdams🔸Dec 16, 2024, 10:05 AM
53 points
21 comments1 min readEA link

[Squig­gle Ex­per­i­men­ta­tion Challenge] CEA LEEP Malawi

Dan WahlSep 1, 2022, 5:13 AM
23 points
8 comments2 min readEA link
(danwahl.net)
No comments.