RTI International Teams Up with USAID, UNICEF to Create a Lead-Free Future

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Oct 02, 2024, 08:53 ET

Partnership launched in NYC at UN General Assembly with First Lady Jill Biden, USAID Administrator Power, world leaders, and organizations dedicated to ending childhood lead poisoning

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This week First Lady Jill Biden joined USAID Administrator Samantha Power, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and partners, including the research institute RTI International, to launch a new initiative dedicated to tackling lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries.

As a known neurotoxin with irreversible effects including reduced IQ, children living in many countries around the world are exposed to lead in consumer products without testing, regulatory oversight, product replacement, or enforcement. Lead is present in products found in everyday life from walls coated in lead-based paint to culinary spices and cookware. It is estimated that lead poisoning causes more deaths than HIV and malaria combined.

"Half of kids in developing countries today are being poisoned by lead," said USAID Administrator Power in her remarks. Later in her speech, she emphasized, "We will launch the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, a coalition of partners across governments, philanthropies, and businesses with a clear goal: end childhood lead poisoning in developing nations by 2040."

Power and Russell announced that the partnership's donors have already secured $150 million to mobilize lead mitigation efforts, which is 10 times more than what was annually dedicated to eliminating sources of lead exposure.

"A world without lead is a happier, safer place where we can more easily tackle remaining public health, education, economic and environmental issues," said Jennifer Hoponick Redmon, senior director of the environmental health and water quality program at RTI. "We are elated to join this new Partnership for a Lead-Free Future to eliminate cumulative lead exposure from various sources and make it possible for children worldwide to live, learn and play in a healthier environment where they reach their lifelong potential."

The launch kicked off alongside the 79th annual United Nations General Assembly High Level Week in New York City featuring principals from international governments, UN agencies, global development banks, foundations and philanthropies.

The partnership will serve as a coordination hub for governments, donors, and businesses committed to creating a lead-free future for every child. In the months and years to come, the partnership will embark on critical, lifesaving work including implementing blood surveys and testing consumer products and other sources to identify sources of lead exposure. Together, the partnership strives to end centuries of neglect regarding lead poisoning.

RTI runs an acclaimed program that addresses lead poisoning by combining expert knowledge, software development, laboratory analysis, and risk communication to identify lead, support data-driven decisions, reduce lead exposure and aid in regulations implementation and enforcement. Our work includes addressing lead hazards overall, from lead-based paint and household dust, lead in soils from leaded gasoline, and lead in tap water or food preparation from water infrastructure. With significant success in identifying and eliminating exposure to lead in schools, childcare centers, and households from the U.S. to Guatemala, RTI plans to further efforts for a lead-free future.

Learn more about RTI's work on lead poisoning prevention

Learn more about the partnership launch

Read USAID's press release calling for the elimination of lead from consumer goods

See White House Fact Sheet on protecting communities from lead exposure

Media Contact:
RTI Media Relations
919-541-7300
[email protected]

SOURCE RTI International