WHO says lead exposure kills 3.5 million a year, pushes testing in six African countries
Lead harms children’s brains and adults’ hearts and kidneys, and the WHO wants countries to act upstream, with testing support planned in six African states.
By
Kwame Asante
In brief
- The WHO links lead exposure to more than 3.5 million deaths a year worldwide.
- Fewer than half of countries have confirmed binding controls on lead paint.
- Testing and technical support is planned in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania.
- A Global Action Plan goes to the World Health Assembly next year.
Countries must move faster to prevent lead exposure, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, October 15. The agency estimates the metal causes more than 3.5 million deaths worldwide each year, a global figure for which no separate African toll is given. The message came ahead of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, running from 18 to 26 October, and was reported by globalissues.org from a UN News report.
The WHO says hundreds of millions of children are affected. Exposure can be fully prevented, but the agency’s most recent global assessment showed that under half of all countries had confirmed binding legal limits on lead in paint.
Why lead does so much lasting damage
Children face the greatest risk of harm, as their brains and nervous systems are still developing and are especially sensitive to the toxic effects of lead. No level of contact is known to be safe, and even fairly low exposure may do permanent damage.
The metal affects several organs. In adults it contributes to cardiovascular and kidney disease. In children it harms the brain, overall health and development, and the consequences last a lifetime: difficulty learning, behavioural problems and poor health.
The danger is easy to miss. Symptoms may not show straight away, so many cases go undetected until serious damage has already been done.
“Lead poisoning should not be stealing children’s potential in 2026,”
Bruce Gordon, interim director of WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change, One Health and Migration
Where lead hides in everyday life
Contamination can reach people through several routes:
- paint
- cookware
- cosmetics
- spices
- informal recycling
- industrial sources
Gordon noted that many sources of exposure are already known, as are the ways to prevent them. He argued that countries must now act further upstream, taking lead out of products and surroundings before it can enter a child’s blood.
What the WHO plans, and where Africa fits
The WHO’s Member States have mandated the agency to draw up a Global Action Plan on Lead Mitigation. It is due to go to the World Health Assembly, the agency’s governing body, next year. Also in 2027, the WHO is to introduce the PREVENT Technical Package, a resource dedicated to preventing lead poisoning, which is meant to help countries identify priority sources, choose the most effective interventions, strengthen and enforce regulations and monitor progress.
- Within the Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, the WHO joined forces with partners to boost laboratory capacity for testing blood lead levels, which allows early detection.
- The WHO issues its call for faster action ahead of the prevention week.
- The Global Action Plan on Lead Mitigation is to be presented to the World Health Assembly.
- The PREVENT Technical Package is due to be launched.
Training and technical support through the testing effort will be provided in Brazil, India, Nepal and six sub-Saharan African nations: Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda, Malawi, Ghana and Ethiopia. The announcement does not say which African countries lack lead paint controls.
Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels
