Healthy Futures Global — Syphilis Screening and Treatment in the Philippines (February 2025)

Note: This page summarizes the rationale behind a GiveWell grant to Healthy Futures. Healthy Futures staff reviewed this page prior to publication.

Published: April 2025

Background

In February 2025, GiveWell recommended a $167,453 grant to Healthy Futures Global (hereafter "Healthy Futures") to support their syphilis screening programming in the Philippines in 2025.

Healthy Futures launched in April 2023, incubated by Ambitious Impact (AIM).1 Healthy Futures currently work in the Philippines,2 and plan to support the Philippines Department of Health (DOH) through 2030 in their push to roll out syphilis screening to pregnant people nationally.3 Healthy Futures will focus on several key activities, including supporting government demand/supply forecasting, expanding government budgets for syphilis screening, supporting government in updating policy guidelines, and refining their training package for master trainers.4

We think that programs that increase the share of pregnant people who are screened (and subsequently treated) for syphilis can be highly cost-effective. For more, see our intervention report here.

The case for the grant

We are recommending this grant because:

• There is a high likelihood that it could lead to larger cost-effective funding opportunities. We think it is plausible that a technical assistance program to increase syphilis screening and treatment rates during pregnancy in the Philippines could be cost-effective. However, there are several ways that this program could fail to achieve impact. By funding this grant now, we will learn whether Healthy Futures’ support is able to alleviate many of these barriers during 2025, before considering funding on a larger scale. Specifically, some of the barriers we expect to learn about include:5
  • Whether dual syphilis/HIV test kits are approved for government procurement;
  • Whether the government will allocate a material budget for syphilis screening and treatment during pregnancy;
  • Whether the government will issue an interim directive that aligns syphilis screening policy;
  • Whether low enough prices can be negotiated for dual tests.

• We also think there is some value to supporting new organizations focussed on syphilis screening and treatment during pregnancy. We think that syphilis screening during pregnancy is one of the most cost-effective opportunities in the maternal and neonatal health space that we’ve found,6 but we are not aware of many organizations specifically implementing this intervention. Supporting new organizations entering this field may plausibly lead to more opportunities for cost-effective impact.

Risks and reservations

We think this grant is low risk. However, GiveWell hasn’t funded many very early-stage organizations in the past, so there’s a chance that we aren’t accounting for some unforeseen risks. To mitigate any unforeseen risks that may emerge, we plan to be very open with Healthy Futures about the probability of renewed funding throughout the course of the grant period.

Plans for follow up

We plan to check in with Healthy Futures at key milestone points during the grant to learn about their progress.

Our process

GiveWell recommended this grant via our policy for small discretionary grantmaking, following several conversations with Healthy Futures. As a small discretionary grant, this funding opportunity did not receive the same review as larger grants we recommend. Instead, we more minimally evaluated the case for the grant and any potential risks or downsides.

Relationship disclosures

Sarah Eustis-Guthrie, a Senior Program Associate at GiveWell, was previously co-founder of Maternal Health Initiative (a group incubated by Charity Entrepreneurship/AIM). Through her participation in the Charity Entrepreneurship program, Sarah personally knows the two co-founders of Healthy Futures, and speaks with them about their program on an ad-hoc basis. Sarah was not involved in any discussions GiveWell had with Healthy Futures related to this grant.

Alice Redfern, a Program Officer at GiveWell, personally knows the two co-founders of Healthy Futures through her previous role based in the Philippines. As part of this grant investigation, GiveWell spoke to Alice (prior to her joining GiveWell) about technical assistance programs in the Philippines and Healthy Futures’ work. Alice was not involved in any discussion with Healthy Futures about this grant.

Sources

Document	Source
Charity Entrepreneurship, Healthy Futures Global	Source (archive)
GiveWell, Syphilis Screening and Treatment During Pregnancy	Source
Health Futures, Health Futures CEA	Source
Healthy Futures, #1 Newsletter - August 2023 - We plan to work in the Philippines!	Source
Healthy Futures, Budget 2025 - for GiveWell - Healthy Futures (unpublished).	Unpublished
Healthy Futures, Healthy Futures responses to questions from GiveWell (unpublished).	Unpublished

• 1

  Formerly Charity Entrepreneurship. See Healthy Futures' incubation program page here.

• 2

  See Healthy Futures, #1 Newsletter - August 2023 - We plan to work in the Philippines!

• 3
  • "In 2026 they [the Philippines DOH] want to roll out dual testing nation-wide, which would be ~2.2m pregnant women." Healthy Futures, Healthy Futures responses to questions from GiveWell (unpublished).
  • Notify Health expects to support the Philippines Department of Health to some degree until 2030; see for example their expected operating costs in their cost-effectiveness analysis here.

• 4

  "Technical assistance: ‘get SET’

  • Supply:
    • Build supply and demand forecast for each city / municipality, including supply of peripherals
    • Push DOH teams to release budget and procure dual tests and penicillin
  • Empower:
    • Draft policy documents to update clinical guidelines and to create a health insurance package
  • Train:
    • Refine health worker training package and set up certification process
    • Train master trainers for training dissemination"

  Healthy Futures, Healthy Futures responses to questions from GiveWell (unpublished).

• 5

  Healthy Futures, conversation with GiveWell, February 6, 2025 (unpublished).

• 6

  See our intervention report.