We'd love to have GiveWell evaluate Watsi. They often recommend global health interventions because every dollar goes incredibly far in saving lives. In the meantime, here's what a few (independent) experts have said about investing in access to surgery:
• A review across 23 LMICs found that low-complexity surgeries (e.g., appendectomy, hernia repair) cost as little as $17 per Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) averted (Mengistie et al., 2025). Overall, 89% of surgical procedures studied were cost-effective, and 76% were “very cost-effective” based on GDP thresholds (Ifeanyichi et al., 2024).
• Essential surgery often achieves costs per DALY well below standard willingness-to-pay thresholds and can be more valuable than essential drugs or vaccines on a per-DALY basis (Mengistie et al., 2025). Low-complexity surgical interventions compare favorably to—and are sometimes more cost-effective than—interventions such as HIV antiretroviral therapy, family planning, and TB vaccinations (Ifeanyichi et al., 2024).
So awesome to hear - thank you! Hoping others will join in on watsi.org to help too. We want giving to be a bigger and more meaningful part of our day to day lives and to do this, it helps to always know and trust the impact you are making.
Your support every month in our Universal Fund means the world to us! This consistency and reliability helps us plan ahead, show up faster for patients in need, and grow to reach new hospitals and communities.
Watsi is a nonprofit that leverages technology to finance healthcare for those in need around the world. At Watsi, we’re excited about bringing people together to do good and have been a leader in the tech for good movement since our founding in 2012. We put radical transparency at the heart of what we do and ensure 100% of public donations on watsi.org directly fund healthcare. We’re a small, remote-first team that believes everyone deserves access to healthcare.
If this sounds exciting to you, please send your resume and a bit about why you’re interested in Watsi to jobs@watsi.org with “Lead Software Engineer (Your First Initial and Last Name) HackerNews” in the subject line. We can’t wait to hear from you!
