It is possible to save a life for $3,340 by donating to the Against Malaria Foundation [1].
Helping desperately poor people is a surely virtuous thing to do and helping them efficiently by giving them money via GiveDirectly, as suggested in this article and the linked 2003 NYT article, is all the better.
But, right now there are worse things to be than desperately poor: like being a kid in Africa who dies of malaria for want of a malaria net.
Given the poor state of medicine and public health in places where people are dying for want of a few thousand dollars, optimizing poverty relief programs seems premature.
And for what it's worth the people you'll save are also desperately poor.
Helping desperately poor people is a surely virtuous thing to do and helping them efficiently by giving them money via GiveDirectly, as suggested in this article and the linked 2003 NYT article, is all the better.
But, right now there are worse things to be than desperately poor: like being a kid in Africa who dies of malaria for want of a malaria net.
Given the poor state of medicine and public health in places where people are dying for want of a few thousand dollars, optimizing poverty relief programs seems premature.
And for what it's worth the people you'll save are also desperately poor.
[1] http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/AMF#Cost...