Tom Hird

Open Philanthropy commissioned Rethink Priorities to conduct research exploring fungal diseases as a potential new cause area. This report summarizes the current and future health burden of fungal diseases and provides an overview of current interventions, the main gaps, and plausible options for philanthropic spending.

The primary focus of the report is to provide a review of World Health Organization Prequalification (WHO-PQ). The researchers focused mostly on how it works and how it’s funded, as well as how it came about and how it could be improved for a greater global health impact.

Context In April 2024, GiveWell commissioned Rethink Priorities to conduct research on mosquito nets. The aim was to briefly evaluate whether some nets that are distributed but not used could…

This report is a “shallow” investigation commissioned by Open Philanthropy. This primary focus of the report is to assess weather forecasting as a potential agricultural intervention in low- and lower-middle income countries and to examine the cost-effectiveness of different interventions.

This report is a “shallow” investigation and was commissioned by Open Philanthropy and produced by Rethink Priorities. Open Philanthropy does not necessarily endorse our conclusions. The primary focus of the report is a literature review of the effectiveness of prizes in spurring innovation and what design features of prizes are most effective in doing so. We also spoke to one expert. We hope this report galvanizes a productive conversation about the effectiveness of prizes within the effective altruism community. We are open to revising our views as more information is uncovered.

The first of a two-part series on anti-deforestation initiatives, this report examines the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the REDD+ framework for reducing forest loss and degradation and for abating CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change.

The primary focus of this report is to provide a review of the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List (EML). The researchers explain how the EML is developed and used, and how it could be improved for a greater global health impact.

This report is a “shallow” investigation commissioned by GiveWell. The primary focus of the report is to provide an overview of what is currently known about the exposure to lead paints in low- and middle-income countries.

The primary focus of this report is to review GiveWell’s current formulation of its discount rate by recommending improvements and reinforcing justifications for areas that do not require improvement.

  Editorial Note This report is a “shallow” investigation, as described here, and was commissioned by Open Philanthropy and produced by Rethink Priorities from November 2022 to January 2023. We…

  Editorial Note This document is intended to explain some of the modeling decisions we made in assessing the cost-effectiveness of Lafiya Nigeria’s intervention, along with some considerations for scaling…

This summary aims to understand whether and how the “double treatment” parameter in GiveWell’s model on vitamin A supplementation should be updated, and to produce estimates for additional countries of interest.

This report was commissioned by Charity Navigator to explore the feasibility of creating an impact-ranking database that aims to score over 230,000 charities on their website based on their impactfulness. Our researchers investigated a wide range of potential methods, including machine learning and large language models. The team undertook a broad set of research activities, from defining impact to concretely assessing the advantages and disadvantages of methodological options. They ultimately conclude these approaches are not feasible, but suggest alternatives.

This report explores the burden, interventions, and potential for philanthropic funding related to hypertension—or high blood pressure—a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and other serious health issues.