Effective altruism in global health: doing better, justly

The effective altruism (EA) movement has seen explosive growth within the last decade, resulting in the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding towards altruistic causes. The movement aims to maximise good and has identified global health initiatives as especially promising. In this paper, we first present a brief overview of the philosophy behind EA and concede the importance of efficacy in the context of the scarcity of resources in global health. We then present three critiques that we believe are particularly salient in the context of global health. The 'philosophical critique' challenges EA's abstract and impartial vantage point for moral reasoning. The 'institutional critique' points to EA's penchant towards quantifiable impact, potentially at the expense of efforts that are less easily quantified but nonetheless critical to effecting sustainable change. Lastly, the 'epistemic critique' posits that EA may contribute to epistemic injustice by denying the communities that global health seeks to serve the space to shape the knowledge practices that they are impacted by. Thus, while EA's methodological rigour and its ability to spread awareness of the plight of billions is welcome, it is imperative to apply its philosophy to global health cautiously-ensuring that we not only do good better, but do better justly.