WHO urges faster action on lead, which kills 3.5 million a year
Fewer than half of countries have binding controls on lead paint. Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania are getting help to test children's blood.
Elizabeth Wilson
Geneva — The World Health Organization has called on countries to move faster to prevent lead exposure, which it estimates causes more than 3.5 million deaths a year and affects hundreds of millions of children, UN News reports.
The call comes ahead of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, 18 to 26 October.
The problem
- Lead gets into the body from paint, cookware, cosmetics, spices, informal recycling and industry.
- There is no known safe level. In children it can permanently damage the brain, causing learning and behavioural problems; in adults it contributes to heart and kidney disease.
- Fewer than half of countries have confirmed legally binding controls on lead paint.
The sources are well known and preventable, said Bruce Gordon, interim director of the WHO's environment department, and countries need to remove lead from products and surroundings before it reaches children.
What is being done
- Since 2025, the WHO has been helping to build laboratory capacity for blood lead testing, so cases are found earlier. Six sub-Saharan African countries are part of it: Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, along with Brazil, India and Nepal.
- A Global Action Plan on Lead Mitigation goes to the World Health Assembly next year, alongside a technical package to help countries target the main sources and enforce rules.
Source: UN News via AllAfrica, 15 October 2026.
