Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
Spotlight on a GiveWell Grantee
This month, we are shining a spotlight on Suvita, an organization that aims to increase childhood vaccination rates in India. In April 2023, we made a $3.3 million grant to support its work in promoting vaccinations through SMS text message reminders and Immunization Ambassadors who share information about vaccines in local communities. The grant will support these programs in two Indian states, Bihar and Maharashtra. We think these low-cost activities could lead to small but meaningful increases in vaccination rates, which in turn will mean fewer children dying of vaccine-preventable diseases. You can read more about this grant here.
This grant to Suvita was funded by GiveWell’s All Grants Fund and individual donor funding. The All Grants Fund allows donors to contribute to the most impactful grant opportunities we’ve identified, regardless of program or location. It’s a great option for donors who have a high level of trust in GiveWell and are open to programs that might be riskier or less certain than our top charities.
Research Updates
We’ve recently published a number of new research pages—below are a few highlights. If you’d like to sign up for email updates whenever we publish new research materials, you can do so here.

Co-delivering vitamin A supplementation and seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Nigeria

In October 2023, GiveWell recommended a $1.4 million grant to Malaria Consortium to deliver vitamin A supplementation (VAS) alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns in two states in Nigeria. Malaria Consortium already delivers seasonal malaria chemoprevention via door-to-door campaigns in these states, and this grant will fund the costs of adding VAS as part of these campaigns. We expect that Malaria Consortium will be able to deliver VAS at a low cost by leveraging its existing SMC platform, thus increasing the number of children receiving VAS and, in turn, averting a higher number of child deaths.

Iron and folic acid supplementation in India

In August 2022, GiveWell

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Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
Recent GiveWell events
We ended 2023 with two in-person events, one in New York and one in San Francisco.
In San Francisco, GiveWell’s CEO Elie Hassenfeld was joined by Neil Buddy Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), to discuss the work of both organizations and their partnership via the CHAI Incubator. You can find the audio recording and transcript of this event here.
In New York, Elie spoke with journalist Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of Vox and creator of Slow Boring, about GiveWell’s top charities and latest research. You can check out the video recording and transcript of this event here.
Attending events is a great way to learn more about GiveWell! You can sign up here to be notified of in-person and virtual events, and you can catch up on our previous events here.
GiveWell in the Media
Teryn Mattox, Director of Research at GiveWell, wrote a guest essay for Emily Oster’s Substack, ParentData, on the effectiveness of kangaroo mother care (KMC). KMC is intended to be a low-cost alternative to conventional neonatal intensive care for low-birth-weight infants; it primarily involves skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby. In low- and middle-income countries, KMC can save babies’ lives, but implementation can be challenging. GiveWell’s research on and grantmaking to maternal and newborn health programs includes a grant to r.i.c.e., which operates a KMC program in India.
Research Updates
We’ve recently published a number of new research pages—below are a few highlights. If you’d like to sign up for email updates whenever we publish new research materials, you can do so here.

Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)

In September 2023, GiveWell recommended a $6.6 million grant to CHAI for a two-year diarrhea treatment program in Bauchi, Nigeria. This grant supports the distribution of oral rehydration solution (ORS) and zinc to households with children under the age of five. Diarrhea is a common cause of childhood mortality in Nigeria, and we roughly estimate that this

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Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
The year 2023 has been one of growth at GiveWell. Our team has expanded, giving us the ability to take on more internal projects, reach out to more supporters, and conduct research into new interventions and funding areas. Since our metrics year started on February 1, we have directed over $100 million to funding opportunities in more than 10 countries, with more grantmaking expected in the coming months—we expect the programs these grants support will save tens of thousands of lives. We are proud of the impact that our supporters have made with their giving in 2023, and look forward to finding new opportunities and directing more funding in 2024.
Recent panel discussion on maternal health
GiveWell recently hosted a virtual event focusing on maternal and reproductive health, a new and growing area of GiveWell’s grantmaking. Economist and author Emily Oster moderated a panel with Svetha Janumpalli, Founder and CEO of New Incentives, and Erin Crossett, a Program Officer at GiveWell. During the hour, they discussed GiveWell’s research and grants to maternal and newborn health, including a recent grant to r.i.c.e. to operate a program for low-birthweight babies focused on kangaroo mother care. Elie Hassenfeld, GiveWell’s CEO and Co-Founder, also joined to answer audience questions. If you missed this engaging conversation, you can catch up on the recording here.
We’re continuing to investigate a number of programs in this area and would be excited to direct funding to them, if they meet our cost-effectiveness bar.
GiveWell in the media
The How To Money podcast recently interviewed Elie to discuss effective altruism, GiveWell’s founding, and making the greatest impact with your giving.
Highlights from our grantees
Nutrition International
Nutrition International shared a photo essay on their vitamin A supplementation (VAS) work in hard-to-reach areas in Nigeria. This story follows health workers during a maternal, newborn, and child health week in Kwanda town, as they deliver VAS to children under five.
Although GiveWell did not fund the

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Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
Research updates
We’ve recently published a number of new research pages—below are a few highlights. If you’d like to sign up for email updates whenever we publish new research materials, you can do so here.

Perennial malaria chemoprevention in Ghana

In February 2023, GiveWell recommended a $1.6 million grant to PATH to coordinate a randomized controlled trial measuring the effectiveness of malaria interventions for infants and young children living in areas with perennial transmissions of malaria. The trial, which will take place in Ghana, will compare the effects of administering the RTS,S malaria vaccine and perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC) together versus the effects of administering only the vaccine. These types of trials can provide evidence to governments about the most effective malaria programs for their settings.

Water chlorination in Kenya, India, and Nigeria

In January 2023, GiveWell recommended a $1.8 million grant to the Development Innovation Lab (DIL) at the University of Chicago to conduct research on water chlorination programs in Kenya and develop plans for additional research on chlorination in India and Nigeria. We think water chlorination is a cost-effective way to avert deaths and have recently made several grants to support chlorination programs. The results of this grant will improve our understanding of such programs and could potentially lead to more funding for them in the future.

Organizational support for IRD Global

In April 2023, GiveWell recommended a $5.4 million grant to IRD Global for organizational support. We believe IRD Global has the potential to be an unusually promising grantee because of its emphasis on high-quality evidence, transparency, and proven operational capacity in areas with high disease burdens. We expect this grant will strengthen the organization and increase its likelihood of implementing cost-effective programs in the future.

Updates from top charities
New Incentives
New Incentives recently announced that it has enrolled over 1 million infants in its immunization program so far in 2023, more than in all previous years combined! In this video, Magaji Soja,

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Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
We’re always excited when we can use the media to tell people about GiveWell’s work—we encourage you to check out our recent feature on the EconTalk podcast! In this episode, GiveWell’s CEO Elie Hassenfeld spoke with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts to discuss GiveWell’s history and how we strive to find the most charitable “bang for your buck.” The conversation covered how and why GiveWell was founded, our methods for determining top charities and other high-impact grant opportunities, and the dangers of relying too heavily on data.
Research updates
We’ve recently published a number of new research pages—below are a few highlights. If you’d like to sign up for email updates whenever we publish new research materials, you can do so here.

Perennial malaria chemoprevention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In November 2022, GiveWell made a $6.2 million grant to PATH to conduct a two-year implementation pilot of perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC)1Note: Intermittent preventive treatment in infants is now called perennial malaria chemoprevention. jQuery(‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_14396_1_1’).tooltip({ tip: ‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_14396_1_1’, tipClass: ‘footnote_tooltip’, effect: ‘fade’, predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: ‘top right’, relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where malaria is a leading cause of death among young children. PMC is the provision of preventive antimalarial medicine to children under the age of two at routine vaccination visits. We believe this grant to be highly cost-effective and expect PATH will reach over 180,000 infants during the pilot. We believe that this pilot, by demonstrating the possibility for successful implementation in DRC, has the potential to accelerate PMC support from other donors, which could lead to roughly 900,000 infants receiving PMC over the next decade.

Deworming programs in Burundi and Mauritania

In June 2023, GiveWell made a $1.5 million exit grant to Unlimit Health, formerly the SCI Foundation, for its deworming programs in Burundi and Mauritania. This grant extended funding for these programs for two years (through

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Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We’ve decided to start publishing selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who might visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.
Research updates
We’ve recently published a number of new research pages—below are a few highlights. If you’d like to sign up for email updates whenever we publish new research materials, you can do so here.

Kangaroo mother care for low-birthweight babies in India

In November 2022, GiveWell made a five-year, $2.4 million grant to r.i.c.e.’s program in India for low-birthweight babies focused on kangaroo mother care (KMC), which involves skin-to-skin contact and early initiation of breastfeeding. As we describe in our KMC intervention report, there is strong evidence that KMC reduces neonatal mortality compared to conventional neonatal intensive care.1A 2016 Cochrane meta-analysis suggests that KMC reduces neonatal mortality in low-birthweight infants by around 30% compared to conventional neonatal care, which is corroborated by reductions in morbidity and increases in early-life growth. More in our intervention report. jQuery(‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_14346_1_1’).tooltip({ tip: ‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_14346_1_1’, tipClass: ‘footnote_tooltip’, effect: ‘fade’, predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: ‘top right’, relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); Recently, we spoke with r.i.c.e. for a six-month update on the progress of its program. r.i.c.e has expanded the reach of its program to all premature infants using services of the hospital where it works, regardless of birth weight. It plans to hire more nurses to keep up with expanding patient capacity. It is also making progress planning an impact evaluation and updating its program protocols.

Vitamin A Supplementation in Chad

In May 2023, we recommended a $6 million grant to Nutrition International to renew support for its vitamin A supplementation (VAS) program in Chad through 2025. VAS can prevent serious illness and death in children in areas where vitamin A deficiency is a problem.

Conditional cash transfers in northern Nigeria

In May 2023, we recommended a $12.6 million grant to New Incentives, a GiveWell top charity, to expand and extend its conditional cash transfers for vaccination programs in northern Nigeria. This grant, along with approximately $19.6 million applied from

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