Deworming the World Initiative
Mass deworming programs targeting school-age children in high-burden regions
Our editorial assessment
School-based deworming is one of the most debated interventions in the effective altruism community — and that debate is itself a sign of how seriously evidence is taken. The case for deworming rests on landmark long-term follow-up studies suggesting that deworming in childhood leads to significant increases in adult earnings (20–30%) and school attendance. At roughly $0.50 per child per year, even modest effects make it extremely cost-effective. Evidence Action's programme operates at extraordinary scale — treating 280 million children annually through government partnerships in India, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. The evidence is categorised as "promising" rather than "exceptional" because the effect sizes in some replication studies have been smaller, but the cost is so low that the expected value remains very high.
The problem they're solving
Intestinal worms infect over 1.5 billion people worldwide, primarily children. They impair nutrition, cognitive development, and school attendance. Mass deworming through schools is one of the cheapest ways to improve child health and educational outcomes at scale.
About Deworming the World Initiative
Evidence Action's Deworming the World Initiative partners with governments to deliver mass drug administration to hundreds of millions of children annually.
Where your dollar goes
How this score was produced
The GiveWise score is our own editorial assessment, produced with a weighted rubric covering program spending, transparency and governance, evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and leadership. It draws on publicly available reports from independent evaluators such as GiveWell, Charity Navigator, and CharityWatch, but it is not a rating issued or endorsed by any of those organisations. Read the full methodology →