This cause area focuses on interventions that prevent and alleviate extreme poverty. Recent estimates suggest that more 760 million people live in extreme poverty. This means they live on less than $1.90 USD per day and struggle to meet the costs of our most basic needs such as food, water, shelter and clothing. But while this is a tragically high figure, poverty relief and economic growth have made enormous progress in the last two and a half decades, moving nearly 1.1 billion people out of extreme poverty.

Alleviating poverty is complex, but it is also possible, and it can be extremely cost-effective. Extreme poverty can be addressed either directly or indirectly. One of the most effective approaches is to improve global health by eliminating or reducing health problems caused by easily preventable diseases. Doing so not only saves lives, but is correlated with increased years in schooling and thus with higher incomes in the long run. Some of the most promising global health interventions focus on malaria prevention, deworming, cash transfers, and micronutrient fortification.

We especially recommend the seasonal malaria chemoprevention program of t he Malaria Consortium, not only because they focus on the most promising health interventions, but because their programs are empirically proven to work.

Malaria Consortium

Malaria still kills over 400,000 people per year, mostly children under five. With their seasonal malaria chemoprevention program the Malaria Consortium distributes preventive anti-malarial drugs to children 3 to 59 months old in order to prevent illness and death from malaria. For just $7 you can gift 4 malaria-free months to a child in vulnerable regions in Africa and Asia. This program of the Malaria Consortium is one of GiveWell's top-rated charities.

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Additional standout poverty alleviation charities

In addition to the top recommendations, REG believes the following poverty alleviation charities to be highly cost-effective. They’re not featured on the donation page, but if you want to donate to them, please get in touch with us.