Year: 2025
Type: editorial
Abstract: Low-level lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries has recently become a global priority, endorsed by the World Bank, UN agencies and others. Blood lead level (BLL) is a critical measure of individual lead exposure directly linked to adverse health outcomes. National BLL averages can be useful to target interventions but do not account for population size. We introduce the concept of the ‘cumulative population BLL’ (cpBLL), a metric combining average BLL with population size to estimate the overall lead burden in a country. Initial cpBLL estimates reveal that over 60% of the global lead burden is concentrated in just 12 countries, which highlights the need for targeted interventions in specific regions. The cpBLL tool, alternately called the ‘Lead Burden Index’, offers a way to help governments, donors and international organisations prioritise where the action is needed and can be used to measure the effectiveness of associated interventions.
Source: BMJ Global Health
Institutions: Pure Earth, University of Southern California
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,679
OpenAlex ID: W4408912922