339 - The Economic Benefits of Lead Elimination on the Pediatric Population of Flint Michigan
Monday, May 1, 2023
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET
Poster Number: 339 Publication Number: 339.447
Brittany Tayler, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Lansing, MI, United States; MONA Hanna-Attisha, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Flint, MI, United States; Jenny LaChance, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Flint, MI, United States; Corwin N. Rhyan, Altarum Institute, New York, NY, United States; Nicole M. Jones, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Flint, MI, United States
Alice Hamilton Public Health Scholar Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Lansing, Michigan, United States
Background: An environmental injustice, childhood lead exposure predominantly burdens children of color contributing to long-term health and education inequities. The national societal cost of failing to prevent lead exposure is estimated at $80 billion per year when considering lead’s deleterious impact on physical health, mental health, and long-term economic productivity. With no safe level, primary prevention practices and policies are recommended to optimally protect children; however, efforts are typically secondary in nature; failing to protect children and driving societal costs. Objective: To encourage investment in proactive lead elimination and to elevate the economic value of primary prevention, Flint Lead Free (FLF), a workgroup of the CDC-supported Flint Registry, sought to calculate the city-level societal savings of lead elimination efforts. FLF was created in response to the Flint Water Crisis to eliminate childhood lead exposure through multisector convenings and tracking of lead related data. The inclusion of economic evaluation in city-level childhood lead prevention programming was novel and critical for informing policy and programming and for dissemination to other lead-burden communities. Design/Methods: Through collaborative partnerships, FLF has been annually tracking city-wide lead elimination efforts including service line replacements, home abatements, and housing demolitions. Using Altarum’s Value of Lead Prevention Tool and prior research, the calculated economic benefits are derived from the reduction in lead exposure, resulting in long-term impacts on health, lifetime earnings, and longevity, plus the financial benefits of demolishing distressed structures. The benefits from service line replacements and home abatements are estimated conservatively, measuring the impacts only for newborn children, while the economic value of demolitions is based on the estimated financial impacts on real estate markets. Results: Since 2013, 544 homes underwent lead abatement, 9894 lead services lines were replaced, and 3863 homes were demolished resulting in an estimated economic benefit of $139.6, $7.0, $55.1 million, respectively. The combined future economic benefits for Flint are $201.8 million dollars.
Conclusion(s): FLF has served as a model for multi-sector primary lead prevention at a city-level. In addition to driving and tracking lead elimination efforts, FLF’s child-centric economic analyses highlights the importance of investment in primary prevention and monetary value calculations in driving further investments and proactive policies to achieve health equity.
