Most Good Per Dollar

One of the most effective ways of increasing your happiness right now is by giving something to someone.  getting things for yourself, once your basic needs have been met (and you are reading this on a computer), doesn't do much for your happiness.

From this talk it turns out that you don't even need to know the person to whom you are giving things.  However, we still like money and it's hard for most people to give lots of it away.  As a result I decided to look and see if I could find the charity that does the most good per dollar.  Through some rather intensive research (I am often amazed at what people don't search for on the internet) the charity that seems to do the most good per dollar is Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI).  For 50 cents an individual can be treated for Schistosomiasis for a year AND help fund research into preventing/eliminating this disease.


This is what Schistomiasis does to people.  You get it by drinking contaminated water.


Above all, schistosomiasis is a chronic disease. Many infections are subclinically symptomatic, with mild anemia and malnutrition being common in endemic areas. Acute schistosomiasis (Katayama's fever) may occur weeks after the initial infection, especially by S. mansoni and S. japonicum. Manifestations include:

• Abdominal pain
• Cough
• Diarrhea
• Eosinophilia — extremely high eosinophil granulocyte (white blood cell) count.
• Fever
• Fatigue
• Hepatosplenomegaly — the enlargement of both the liver and the spleen. Hepatic schistosomiasis is the second most common cause of esophageal varices^[3] worldwide.
• Genital sores — lesions that increase vulnerability to HIV infection. Lesions caused by schistosomiasis may continue to be a problem after control of the schistosomiasis infection itself. Early treatment, especially of children, which is relatively inexpensive, prevents formation of the sores.^[4][5]
• Skin symptoms: At the start of infection, mild itching and a papular dermatitis of the feet and other parts after swimming in polluted streams containing cercariae.^[6]:432

Occasionally central nervous system lesions occur: cerebral granulomatous disease may be caused by ectopic S. japonicum eggs in the brain, and granulomatous lesions around ectopic eggs in the spinal cord from S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections may result in a transverse myelitis with flaccid paraplegia.

Calcification of the bladder wall on a plain x-ray image of the pelvis, in a sub-Saharan man of 44 years old. This is due to urinary schistosomiasis.

Continuing infection may cause granulomatous reactions and fibrosis in the affected organs, which may result in manifestations that include:

• Colonic polyposis with bloody diarrhea (Schistosoma mansoni mostly);
• Portal hypertension with hematemesis and splenomegaly (S. mansoni, S. japonicum);
• Cystitis and ureteritis (S. haematobium) with hematuria, which can progress to bladder cancer;
• Pulmonary hypertension (S. mansoni, S. japonicum, more rarely S. haematobium);
• Glomerulonephritis; and central nervous system lesions.

Bladder cancer diagnosis and mortality are generally elevated in affected areas.

All of these symptoms reduce or prevent the ability of people to work, farm, start new businesses, take care of their children, generally contribute to society.  In fact, such symptoms retard the development of poor places.  Treatment of this disease makes people healthier, wealthier, reduces population growth and so helps to move people from the deepest poverty to better conditions.

The Federal minimum wage in the USA is $7.25.  That will prevent the above symptoms in 14 people for a year.  In an hour you can transform the lives of 14 people.  I don't want you to think about the misery of those 14 people, I want you to imagine 14 smiling faces, walking, talking, loving, working because of you.

Give a little, I guarantee that it will make you happy today.