Health

Helen Keller Intl

Research summary, last reviewed May 2026. US 501(c)(3), EIN 13-5562162. Official site.

Independent recognition: GiveWell Top Charity · Founders Pledge recommended · The Life You Can Save recommended · Charity Navigator 4/4 stars · BBB Wise Giving Alliance accredited · CharityWatch Top-Rated

Headline outcome: 47 million children reached with vitamin A in 2025

What does Helen Keller Intl do?

Helen Keller Intl works on three connected fronts: eye health (cataract surgery, trachoma and river blindness control, school vision screening), nutrition, and neglected tropical diseases. Its flagship programme delivers vitamin A supplementation (VAS) to children aged six months to five years across seven sub-Saharan African countries plus selected Nigerian states, in partnership with national ministries of health.

Vitamin A deficiency weakens children’s immune systems, leaving them far more vulnerable to dying from common illnesses like measles and diarrhoea. Two high-dose capsules a year, costing roughly a dollar per capsule to deliver, substantially reduce that risk.

The organisation was co-founded in 1915 by Helen Keller and George Kessler, a survivor of the Lusitania sinking who pledged the rest of his life to humanitarian work. It now reaches tens of millions of children a year: 47 million children received vitamin A through its programmes in 2025.

Why did EveryDrop choose it?

Helen Keller Intl passed our four-stage vetting assessment: a clearly aligned charitable purpose (advancement of health and saving of lives), no evidence of undue private benefit, no evidence of public disbenefit, and no undue restrictions on who benefits.

It also has unusually deep independent coverage. It has been a GiveWell Top Charity continuously since 2017, one of the longest-standing on GiveWell’s list. Founders Pledge made a £3.5 million grant to its VAS programme in 2024. It holds a 4/4-star Charity Navigator rating, BBB Wise Giving Alliance accreditation and CharityWatch Top-Rated status. Very few charities anywhere clear that many independent bars at once.

How effective is it?

The most recent Cochrane systematic review of vitamin A supplementation (Imdad et al. 2022, covering 19 trials and over 1.2 million children) found a 12% reduction in all-cause child mortality, rated as high-certainty evidence.

GiveWell estimates the cost to avert a death through VAS in Helen Keller-supported geographies at roughly $1,000 to $8,500 depending on the country, and assesses the programme overall at approximately 25 times the cost-effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers, its standard benchmark.

What are the open questions?

We publish what we are monitoring as well as what we like. The main live question is whether VAS remains as effective today as the decades-old trials suggest: child mortality has fallen, measles vaccination has improved, and food fortification has raised baseline vitamin A intake. GiveWell’s 2025 review of its Nigeria grant revised that country’s estimated impact downward, while its April 2026 portfolio-wide update still assessed the latest grant at roughly 25 times its benchmark.

Our reading matches GiveWell’s: this is a debate about how much benefit per pound, not about whether the programme helps. We re-check the evidence at every annual review.

Sources

This summary is derived from EveryDrop's internal vetting dossier, prepared under our four-stage assessment framework using public, verifiable sources. Assessments are re-checked every twelve months. If you spot something we should know, email [email protected].