Review of PSI: Summary
What they do: PSI sells and promotes products and services addressing major causes of death in the developing world: condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS, insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria, birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies (which often lead to death in childbirth or death due to a botched abortion), etc. Close to 50% of PSI's budget goes to HIV prevention activities; roughly 20% goes to malaria treatment and prevention; roughly 10% goes to family planning. The rest is detailed below. PSI works mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (75%) and south-east Asia.
Does it work? Condoms and bednets (PSI's two biggest activities) are proven methods for preventing HIV/AIDS and malaria, but only when used properly and consistently. PSI only monitors use of its products and services in a small percentage of regions where it works, but the evaluations we went through left us relatively confident in PSI's impact, and thus relatively confident that it is saving lives.
What do you get for your dollar: We estimate that it costs PSI $650-$1000 to prevent a case of HIV/AIDS and
$500-$2500 to prevent a death from malaria; across the organization, we estimate that it costs PSI about $650-$1000 to save a life. These estimates do not include other benefits of PSI's activities, such as preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing non-fatal malaria infections.
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