Unlimit Health (formerly SCI Foundation)

What problem is Unlimit Health working on?

Unlimit Health focuses on the elimination of neglected tropical diseases — a group of infectious parasitic bacterial, fungal, viral, and protozoan infections, in addition to envenoming — that affect over one billion people in the world’s poorest and most marginalised communities.

Parasitic worm infections can have a hugely detrimental effect on individuals, including:

• Reduced productivity
• Internal organ damage
• Impaired child development
• Reduced school attendance
• Increased risk of HIV in women
• Infertility

According to Unlimit Health, in 2020, only 44% of people needing treatment globally received it — meaning that more than 130 million people at risk from parasitic disease did not receive treatment.

What does Unlimit Health do?

Unlimit Health works to build resilient systems that sustain good health by sharing evidence and expertise to end preventable parasitic infections in affected communities. It works across multiple sectors in numerous countries to deliver effective and robust health programmes that have a lasting impact, including:

• Providing support for evidence-based disease elimination.
• Strengthening cross-sector health systems.
• Building collaborative partnerships.

Its 2023–2028 strategy is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Unlimit Health reports that it delivered 63 million treatments to 52 million people in 2021–2022, and claims that just £1 can help deliver treatment for up to three people. In 2023–2024, it plans to support treatments for around 75 million people in 12 partner countries — in particular, focusing on broadening access to treatment to include groups not adequately covered by mass treatment campaigns, such as pre-school children and women of reproductive age.

What evidence is there of Unlimit Health’s effectiveness?

Unlimit Health meets our criteria to be listed on our platform because it was previously one of our recommended charities due to GiveWell’s inclusion of it as a top-rated giving opportunity from 2011 to 2022 (under its previous name, SCI Foundation). GiveWell’s decision to no longer recommend SCI Foundation was not based on any shift in thinking about SCI Foundation, but rather a change in its top charity criteria. (See more about GiveWell’s decision and how that decision affects our recommended charities.) GiveWell has continued to fund Unlimit Health via its All Grants Fund.

Open Philanthropy has also awarded several grants to SCI Foundation, including over $3 million USD in 2021, which is an indicator of its cost-effectiveness.

Some research shows that deworming has positive effects on improved life outcomes like school attendance and income earnings. There is also some uncertainty surrounding findings that link deworming programs to improved life outcomes — see GiveWell’s in-depth report on the case for mass deworming.

We intend to reevaluate the status of all of the charities listed on our platform that are working on deworming programmes after one of our trusted evaluators, Founders Pledge, publishes its review of deworming’s cost-effectiveness. (Our trusted evaluators are charitable giving experts who focus on impact — their research into the best charities means your donations can do even more good. Learn more about charity evaluators we trust and why.)

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