Return-on-Investment Calculator for Lead Poisoning Prevention
Advancing the Economic Case for Financing Preventive Interventions
In the United States, an estimated 535,000 children aged 1-5 years have elevated blood lead levels greater than or equal to 5 μg/dL, which is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) blood lead reference level. Decades of research has established that there is no safe level of lead in the human body, and even the smallest amount of lead in a child will lead to deficits in brain development and health.
Purpose of Lead Financing Calculator
A dollar invested in lead paint hazard control returns $17 to $221 to society. Despite the power of this staggering and often-cited statistic, the collective benefits of lead poisoning prevention are dispersed across many different sectors and accrue over the lifetime of a lead poisoned individual. This makes it difficult to translate the total societal benefit of prevention into a straightforward case for financing by a single payer or group of payers. It has also hindered investment in lead poisoning prevention from meeting the scale of the problem.
The GHHI – Return on Investment Calculator for Lead Poisoning Prevention Paper helps policymakers and advocates quantify costs and benefits of prevention, in order to finance projects at scale. The Calculator Tool allows users to compute the value of prevention across sectors and control key inputs of calculations to suit the conditions of their unique situations. It is GHHI’s desire that policymakers, advocates and practitioners use the Lead Financing Calculator to advance conversations about prevention and develop tangible financing arrangements that scale lead poisoning prevention programs in their jurisdictions.
The Lead Financing Calculator Tool
The Lead Financing Calculator Tool can be downloaded as an Excel file by clicking on: GHHI-Lead-Financing-Calculator-Tool-2021
Please do not hesitate to contact GHHI if you have questions or comments about the calculations or how to use the Calculator Tool in your jurisdiction.
