Lifesavers · Giving
Who delivers what saves lives
Some of the lifesavers on this site have a charity that delivers them today. This page lists those, links each organisation, and quotes what an independent evaluator has published about cost, with the date.
Updated
This is information, not financial or tax advice, and we do not rank these organisations. We take no referral fee from any of them. Read the evaluator’s own page before you give.
How to read the figures
- A cost per life saved is a model’s output, not a receipt. GiveWell says its estimates are often highly uncertain and that its models are not precise enough to separate estimates a few hundred dollars apart.
- The figures below are averages over grants GiveWell directed in 2022 to 2024. They describe what past money did, not a promise about the next dollar.
- Only organisations with a published figure from an evaluator carry one here. Where an organisation delivers the intervention but no such figure exists, we say so and print no number.
GiveWell’s top charities · how GiveWell estimates cost per life saved (last updated August 2026)
Find a lifesaver
- Vaccines New Incentives, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- Clean water Evidence Action: Dispensers for Safe Water
- Oral rehydration therapy New Incentives (ORS pilot)
- The measles vaccine New Incentives, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- Insecticide-treated bed nets Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium
- The polio vaccine Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- Vitamin A supplementation Helen Keller Intl
- The rotavirus vaccine Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- The HPV vaccine Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- The meningitis A vaccine Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Against Malaria Foundation
Funds insecticide-treated nets that households hang and sleep under. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
GiveWell: Top charity (page last updated September 2025).
- Estimated average cost per life saved
- $5,500 Average over funding GiveWell directed to this program in 2022 to 2024, rounded up to the nearest $500. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
- Estimated average cost per net delivered
- $6 Average over the same 2022 to 2024 funding, rounded to the nearest dollar. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
Malaria Consortium
Runs seasonal malaria chemoprevention: preventive medicine given to children in the four months of the year when malaria infection rates are especially high. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
- Insecticide-treated bed nets : Same disease, a different tool. This is a medicine, not a net.
GiveWell: Top charity (page last updated September 2025).
- Estimated average cost per life saved
- $4,000 Average over funding GiveWell directed to this program in 2022 to 2024, rounded up to the nearest $500. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
- Estimated average cost per child treated with a full course of medicine
- $7 Average over the same 2022 to 2024 funding, rounded to the nearest dollar. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
Helen Keller Intl
Provides vitamin A supplements to children under 5. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
GiveWell: Top charity (page last updated September 2025).
- Estimated average cost per life saved
- $3,500 Average over funding GiveWell directed to this program in 2022 to 2024, rounded up to the nearest $500. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
- Estimated average cost per child receiving supplements
- $2 Average over the same 2022 to 2024 funding, rounded to the nearest dollar. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
New Incentives
Gives caregivers in northern Nigeria a cash incentive to bring babies to clinics for routine childhood vaccinations. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
- Vaccines : Routine childhood vaccines in northern Nigeria only.
- The measles vaccine : Measles is one of the routine childhood vaccines the incentive covers, in northern Nigeria only.
GiveWell: Top charity (page last updated September 2025).
- Estimated average cost per life saved
- $4,500 Average over funding GiveWell directed to this program in 2022 to 2024, rounded up to the nearest $500. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
- Estimated average cost per infant vaccinated who would not otherwise have been
- $146 Average over the same 2022 to 2024 funding, rounded to the nearest dollar. GiveWell, last updated August 2026, read 2026-09-30.
New Incentives (ORS pilot)
Is scaling out oral rehydration solution to caregivers through the same clinic visits as its vaccination incentives, in northern Nigeria. The organisation describes it as a program it is looking to scale, with a funding gap. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
- Oral rehydration therapy : A newer program than the vaccination work above. It is not one of GiveWell’s top-charity programs, and no evaluator figure is quoted for it here.
- Cost of ORS per child, in the organisation’s own words
- $1 The organisation’s statement that costs stay at $1 per child because the pilot layers onto its existing clinic platform. This is the organisation’s claim, not an evaluator’s estimate, and it is a cost per child, not per life saved. New Incentives, page carries no date, read 2026-09-30.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Supports countries to introduce and roll out vaccines, including meningococcal A, measles, rotavirus, HPV and inactivated polio. Gavi describes itself as a public-private partnership funded by governments and other organisations. It buys vaccines for countries, so a gift goes into a shared pool and is not tied to one vaccine. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
- Vaccines
- The measles vaccine
- The meningitis A vaccine : Gavi says it supports meningococcal A routine immunisation and campaigns.
- The rotavirus vaccine
- The HPV vaccine
- The polio vaccine : Gavi supports the inactivated polio vaccine, the injected one.
GiveWell: Reviewed, no room for more funding (published July 2018). GiveWell’s words: “We do not believe that Gavi has room for more funding.” It adds that this page is likely no longer fully accurate.
No cost-per-life figure published by an evaluator we cite.
Evidence Action: Dispensers for Safe Water
Places chlorine dispensers free of charge by public water points, with field staff who keep the chlorine stocked and volunteer promoters in each community. Where this description comes from.
Lifesavers it delivers
- Clean water : Point-of-collection chlorination, one route to clean water among several.
GiveWell: Lookback on its 2022 grant (published September 2025). GiveWell’s current funding bar is about 10x cash, as of September 2025.
- Estimated cost-effectiveness of the 2022 grant as a whole
- 5x cash GiveWell’s estimate that the grant was 5x as cost effective as direct cash transfers, its benchmark, against 7x when it recommended the grant. Not a cost per life saved. GiveWell, published September 2025, read 2026-09-30.
What is not here
Most lifesavers on this site have no charity an individual can point a donation at: insulin, penicillin, seat belts and the rest are delivered by health systems, manufacturers and governments. A link to a charity that does something nearby would mislead, so none is offered.
Smallpox eradication, Synthetic fertilizer, Insulin, Penicillin and antibiotics, Tuberculosis treatment, Seat belts, HIV treatment, Tobacco control, Family planning, Breastfeeding, The tetanus vaccine, Hib and pneumococcal vaccines, Kangaroo mother care, Blood transfusion, Iodized salt, Folic acid fortification, Magnesium sulfate for eclampsia, Uterotonics for postpartum hemorrhage, The hepatitis B vaccine.
Progress like this happens every day.
We find the day’s real wins in science, medicine and beyond, and send you the proof every morning. Free, forever.
Free forever, no spam. One click to unsubscribe, and we never sell your email.