Newsletter · Q3 2026

Programs built to outlast us

Hi Friend,

Every year, syphilis in pregnancy causes more than 390,000 stillbirths, newborn deaths, premature births, and lifelong disabilities – even though most of those mothers will have attended prenatal care. During the UN General Assembly in September, our CEO Danielle Bayer sat down with Devex to talk about how to make sure every one of those visits includes a test and treatment:

1

The test itself is the easy part. Impact lives in the nuts and bolts: kits on the shelf, trained nurses, and data that flags issues early.

2

Plan the exit from day one. Success is when health ministries and clinic nurses call it “our program” and keep it running without us.

3

Behind every number is a mother. Some have lost a baby to syphilis without knowing why. Now they can be tested and treated in a single visit, so their next baby can be born healthy.

“I am a mother. I have very young children. So when I see the impact of what Evidence Action does, it feels really visceral.”

Danielle, speaking as a mother, on seeing the impact of our work.

Danielle Bayer
CEO, Evidence Action

Watch the clip

The same principles shaped our work across programs this past quarter.

Deworm the World

India

How India’s National Deworming Day grew from a three-state pilot to a program reaching more than 300 million children a year

Ankur Garg, Executive Vice President and India Country Director, shares insights from a decade of deworming: the children most at risk are the easiest to miss, fast data lets states fix gaps early, and support should be built to end.

Read the story →

“Deworming is still one of the cheapest levers for school attendance that exists.”

Crawfurd put Deworm the World on his shortlist of 34 organizations he would bet on. A randomized trial in Kenya found 25% less school absenteeism, and 13% higher incomes two decades later.

Lee Crawfurd · Center for Global Development
From CGD’s Putting the AI Windfall to Work series

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Safe Water Now

Bhavani, a pump operator, at the chlorination device in Enamadala village, Andhra Pradesh

India

Pipes aren’t enough: Water safety in rural India depends on community ownership

Rural tap connection coverage has grown nearly five-fold in seven years. But a functionality assessment by the Jal Jeevan Mission found only 76% of households surveyed had enough safe water consistently. Trust is also essential — and it’s built by people, not pipes. In Andhra Pradesh, pump operator Bhavani went door to door to explain why treated water smells of chlorine.

Read the story →

Leapfrogging the learning curve: We’re sharing our dispenser playbook
Chlorination remains among the most cost-effective ways to keep children alive past their fifth birthday. After a decade of running dispensers, we’re sharing what we learned – failures included – so others can improve the model. This year, we’ll support four pilot partners in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

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Syphilis-Free Start

A health worker in gloves takes a finger-prick blood sample from a woman, with a rapid test on the table

Liberia

Liberia has largely closed the gap between HIV and syphilis screening, and built it into government health systems

Screening at prenatal visits has since gone from about 8 in 100 women to about 80. All 15 counties have graduated from our intensive support, and health workers at more than 560 facilities now routinely screen and treat.

Read the coverage →

One shot, many partners: Danielle Bayer at Devex Impact House
After decades of neglect, maternal syphilis is on the international agenda. Our CEO sat down with Devex’s Kate Warren to talk about the growing global coalition we’ve convened.

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Equal Vitamin Access

A mother holding her baby opens a sachet of fortified peanut paste, with more sachets in a bin nearby

Nigeria

Same supplies, smarter targeting: How Nigeria could save 250% more lives

Nigeria has committed $30 million to nutrient supplements for three million children under two. Where those supplements go matters. By sending them to the highest-burden wards, with trained health workers to deliver them, we estimate 3,000 more children’s lives could be saved.

Read the story →

Four things we’ve learned since launching an anemia prevention program in Malawi
From a standing start in under two years, about 54% of adolescent girls in Malawi received at least one iron tablet in a given month. Four lessons are helping us close the gap to full doses.

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A dose only works if it’s swallowed: behavior is the next frontier in India’s fight against anemia
If prevention is the future of public health in India, the next frontier in the fight against anemia is “the infrastructure of behavior,” writes Ankur Garg. In Uttarakhand, a health worker returned three times to a home where the iron syrup sat unopened; in Haryana, a teacher talked with students who were slipping tablets into their bags.

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Accelerator

A mother holds her sleeping newborn skin to skin, the baby’s hand resting on hers

Liberia

A proven way to prevent newborn deaths still isn’t reaching most babies.

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Kangaroo Mother Care, which pairs skin-to-skin contact with close monitoring for danger signs, cuts neonatal mortality by roughly a third, yet a four-country case study found only 5% of facilities offering it had reached durable, routine practice. We’ll work with Liberia’s Ministry of Health to learn what delivery would require.

Read the story →

Devex opinion: Reading glasses are a livelihoods issue, not a convenience
An estimated 826 million people lack the simple glasses that would restore near vision and enable them to earn an income. The authors argue for putting screening and distribution in the hands of community health workers, and put Evidence Action’s program among the evidence it can work.

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Also this quarter

Evidence Action welcomes Cammie Lee as Executive Vice President, Global Programs
Cammie joined in July after leading the scale-up of low-cost proven innovations for mothers and babies at the Gates Foundation, and a decade at Results for Development. She will lead our largest programs across 11 countries.

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A new wave of philanthropy is coming. Researchers say to follow the evidence.
AI-related wealth could add $37 billion to $100 billion a year in giving. The Center for Global Development’s series asks where it could do the most good; several of its picks overlap with our work, from newborn health to deworming.

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Designing AI for scale from the start: a conversation with Kanika Bahl
Recorded at Devex Impact House, Kanika Bahl, who leads the AI Access Initiative and was previously CEO of Evidence Action, explains why government systems are the channel to scale: they deliver most population-level services and hold the digital registries that let AI reach people where they already are.

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Thanks for reading, Friend.

Every update above starts with the evidence, and the work that reaches families runs through government systems built to last. Your support makes the next one possible.

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