Lead-free India (LFI)
Lead-Free India (LFI) is an India-focused and locally-led organization striving to eliminate the vast majority of lead poisoning across different sources of lead contamination by 2040. India carries over a third of the world’s lead burden — nearly 275 million children face lifelong consequences to their health, learning, and livelihoods because of preventable poisoning. While other organizations have focused mainly on evidence building, our priority is on mitigation action, working across the private sector, government, and civil society to drive lasting change. We are starting with one of the most prevalent and neglected sources:: used lead-acid battery (ULAB) recycling, which drives up to 33% of lead exposure across low- and middle-income countries. The coalitions and policy infrastructure we build for ULABs will extend to other important and underserved sources, ultimately helping us become the go-to organization for lead reduction in India.
GDI’s role
Globally, GDI operates distinct, mutually reinforcing initiatives aimed at eliminating the majority of lead poisoning in low-income countries by 2040. GDI South Asia provides a local presence and leadership with deep subject matter expertise and an on-the-ground understanding of the Indian health and social sector landscape, bridging the gap between global strategy and local execution. GDI South Asia incubates Lead-Free India, providing strategic, operational, and financial support to enable the organization to achieve its mission of eliminating the vast majority of lead poisoning by 2040 in the country.
