The SCI Foundation (SCI), formerly known as the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, is a charity that works with governments in sub-Saharan Africa to create or scale up deworming programs.

History

SCI was founded in 2002 as an initiative within Imperial College London with a £20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (SCI Foundation 2020). In 2019, SCI became an independent organization, adopting its current name (SCI Foundation 2020).

Evaluation

As of June 2021, GiveWell estimates that SCI can deworm 100 children at a cost of about $100, leading to a cumulative $1,100 in additional earnings over the course of the children's lives (GiveWell 2020a; GiveWell 2020b).

SCI has been a GiveWell top-rated charity since 2011 (GiveWell 2020). (For the year 2019, GiveWell maintained their recommendation, but noted that while "SCI offers donors an outstanding opportunity to accomplish good with their donations [...], at this time, it does not have capacity to use new donations effectively." This notice was removed in 2020 (GiveWell 2019).) SCI is also featured in The Life You Can Save's list of "best charities" (The Life You Can Save 2021).