SCI recommended as a "Top Charity" for 7th consecutive year

GiveWell, an international charity evaluator, has recommended the SCI as a "Top Charity" once more for its impact and cost-effectiveness.

GiveWell is a non-profit organisation dedicated to identifying the best giving opportunities possible, through in-depth research to determine how much good a programme accomplishes per US Dollar received (such as the number of lives saved and lives improved).

Top charities are ranked according to how much good additional donations can do for their work. They examine charities' overall quality and cost-effectiveness, as well as what more funding would enable them to do.

This year, GiveWell has maintained the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) as second in its list of top charities and recommends that donors give 30% of an intended charitable donation to the SCI.

The SCI is a non-profit initiative at Imperial College London, supporting Ministries of Health and Education in sub-Saharan African countries and Yemen to support and evaluate treatment programmes against schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections.

These infections affect the poorest and most marginalised communities in the world and can result in reduced school attendance and impaired development in children, and can cause internal organ damage in both children and adults.

GiveWell estimates that “SCI could productively use roughly $30 million more than it expects to receive to deliver treatments to school-aged children over the next three years”.

The organisation also noted that the SCI has a track record of repeatedly demonstrating success at starting and expanding national deworming programmes; that supported programmes demonstrate excellent cost-effectiveness; and that the SCI provides “standout transparency”, sharing significant and detailed information about its programmes.

Good Ventures, a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to help humanity thrive, has donated $2.5 million following the GiveWell recommendation in support of the SCI’s work. Good Ventures was established jointly by Cari Tuna and her husband, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and work closely with GiveWell to maximise the impact of its philanthropy.

GiveWell aim to raise a total of $11 million for SCI through its own donor network. With this additional funding the SCI will aim to build the capacity of programmes and further strengthen health systems.

The presence of four deworming charities in GiveWell’s top charities list once again this year is a fantastic endorsement for the effectiveness of this global health intervention.

Please click here to read the full blog post from GiveWell.