A bed net costs a few dollars. A dose of vitamin A costs cents. So why does the most careful evaluator in the field say it costs thousands of dollars to save a life?
Because most nets go to children who would not have died anyway. That is not a failure; it is how prevention works. You protect everyone at risk, and a fraction of them were the ones who would have gotten the fatal case. Cost per life saved is the total spent divided by that fraction.
The current figures
GiveWell’s estimates for its four top charities, averaged over grants made in 2022 to 2024 and rounded to the nearest $500:
| Program | Charity | Cost per life saved |
|---|---|---|
| Vitamin A supplementation | Helen Keller Intl | ~$3,500 |
| Seasonal malaria chemoprevention | Malaria Consortium | ~$4,000 |
| Cash incentives for routine vaccines (Nigeria) | New Incentives | ~$4,500 |
| Insecticide-treated bed nets | Against Malaria Foundation | ~$5,500 |
GiveWell estimates its grants from 2009 through 2024 will save about 340,000 lives in total.
How the number is built
Take nets. The model starts with randomized trials from the 1990s and 2000s showing how much child mortality fell when nets were distributed. It adjusts for how many nets get used, how long they last, how much malaria there is in the specific district today, and how much local resistance to the insecticide has grown. Then it adds the full cost of the campaign, including the share paid by governments and other funders, not just the charity’s share. Divide.
Each of those steps has a range, and the ranges compound. GiveWell says plainly that its estimates are “often highly uncertain” and that it does not fund on the number alone.
Why it varies
The same program can cost twice as much per life in one place as another, because malaria burden, baseline vaccination rates and delivery costs differ. GiveWell’s figures are averages across the places it funded. A specific grant might be estimated at $2,500 or $8,000.
What is not counted
A life saved is not the only benefit. Children who avoid severe malaria also avoid anemia and missed school; vitamin A reduces blindness; vaccines prevent illness that does not kill. GiveWell folds some of these into a broader measure it compares against a benchmark (since November 2025, the value of doubling consumption for a year for someone living at the $2.15-a-day poverty line). Cost per life saved is the simpler headline, and it understates total benefit.
Why $1 per life is a red flag
You will see fundraising copy like “$1 saves a life” or “$10 protects a family forever.” Those numbers describe the cost of an input (a dose, a net), not the cost of the outcome. A charity making that claim either does not know its own cost per outcome or is choosing not to tell you. The honest range for the best programs in the world, measured carefully, is thousands of dollars. Anything far below that is either an accounting trick or a program too small to have been studied.
How to use the figure
- Compare within a category. $4,000 per life versus $5,500 per life is a real difference but well within the error bars. Both are excellent.
- Compare across categories with care. A death averted for $4,000 versus a year of healthy life for $5 (lead paint) versus a point of life satisfaction for $25 (therapy) are different units. See our methodology for how we line them up.
- Watch the date. These are 2022 to 2024 averages. Aid cuts in 2025 changed funding gaps; the next update may move the numbers in either direction.
Method notes
All figures are GiveWell’s, from its top charities page (last updated September 2025 when we read it) and impact estimates page. We have not adjusted them.
Sources
Figures come from the cited sources as of the dates shown. Cost-effectiveness estimates change as programs and evidence change; check the source before giving. We are not financial advisers and receive nothing from any charity named here.