Has Global Health Been Rigorously Compared With Other Cause Areas?

Hi James! There's actually a variety of EA-aligned charities in those areas. Some that come to mind:

• Teaching at the Right Level (Education)
• NOVAH No Violence At Home (women's domestic abuse prevention)
• ACTRA (reducing criminality in Central America)
• Africa Jobs Fund (economic growth)
• Lafiyah Nigeria (contraceptives provision, so women's empowerment)

They all have their own theories as to why they might be unusually effective.

As for why:

• The differing moral priorities about saving a life versus improving a life. You sound like you'd be more on board with the moral prioritisation of the Happier Lives Institute rather than GiveWell, so do check them and their recommendations out.
• Global health really has a huge funding gap. So it's quite easily to find something that works effectively - you take a working preventative (e.g. malaria nets, chemoprevention, vaccines, vitamin supplements) and you put cash towards incentivising it / tackle supply-side issues. There's just a lot that can be done in this space in ways that replicate. It's quite easy to get into. A lot of other intervention types are just a lot fiddlier.
• The richer a country is, the more arguments there are that effective interventions helping citizens within it should be funded by its government. To be clear, EAs still definitely work on this stuff! But they tend to bid for government funding pots, not for effective giving money, so you hear about them less.