Best Buy For Education: Deworm the World transforming millions of children’s lives in India

A group of us in the YGL Education Task Force launched Deworm the World (DtW) at the 2007 World Economic Forum. We started DtW to expand school-based deworming, which is a simple intervention proven to be remarkably cost-effective. Since then, we’ve reached over 40 million kids in 27 countries. The YGL community has been an integral part of this success.

We know school-based deworming is a best buy for global development based on rigorous impact evaluations and cost-effective analysis. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT answers the most critical questions to alleviating global poverty, and has found school-based deworming to be one of the most cost-effective ways to increase schooling, of any program rigorously evaluated.

In a randomized study in Kenya, J-PAL researchers Ted Miguel and Michael Kremer found school-based deworming reduces school absence by 25%. They, along with colleagues Sarah Baird and Joan Hamory, followed these children over 10 years into early adulthood. Among other important economic gains, school-based deworming increased their wages by 20% and hours worked by 12%. We see similar improvements to education and earnings in a study by Hoyt Bleakley of the University of Chicago. Through a careful analysis of an early 20^th century campaign by the Rockefeller Foundation, he found deworming led to higher literacy levels and wage gains of 17%.

We now have an extraordinary opportunity to improve the lives of 17 million children in Bihar, India. It is one of the poorest regions of the world, where over 1 of every 2 kids is infected. This month the Forum is featuring the Bihar school-based program in a Crowdrise fundraising campaign. Most program funds are already in place from government and corporations. All we need is 2 more cents per child. Join us in making a lasting difference in the lives of millions of children.

Esther Duflo is a co-founder and director of the Poverty Action Lab, she specializes in development economics and the design and evaluation of effective anti-poverty policy. She was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2006.

Photo Credit: Esther Havens