Yesterday, Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris, two-time World Cup champions and legendary National Women’s Soccer League power couple for NJ/NY Gotham FC, announced their partnership with Vitamin Angels, a public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition worldwide by reducing the barriers to accessing essential nutrition for underserved pregnant women and children in the U.S. and around the world. The partnership was announced on International Women’s Day, March 8th, to raise awareness around the biases that block women’s access to the essential nutrition they need to have a healthy pregnancy, and Vitamin Angels’ work to reduce this inequity.
“As new mothers who adopted our daughter, it was nerve-wracking to know if Sloane’s birth mother, who experienced these barriers, was able to get the right nutrients during pregnancy until she was born,” said Krieger. “Thankfully Sloane was born healthy and we’ve been making sure to get her the proper nutrition moving forward. This experience reaffirmed how much we want to help make sure all moms, like Sloane’s birth mother, have access to essential nutrition. There is no substitute for a healthy start in life. Which is why it shouldn’t be a privilege available only to some.”
“That’s why we are on-board and all-in with Vitamin Angels, an organization dedicated to supporting everyone’s fundamental right to health: every woman, every mother, every child, everywhere. No exceptions,” noted Harris.
In communities across the United States and around the world, bias blocks women’s access to healthcare, education, resources and opportunities, which can have long-term consequences not just for a woman’s health, but also for her family and community. These socioeconomic inequalities increase the risk of negative health consequences for women, such as poor maternal nutrition, infant mortality, pre-term birth, low-birth weight, and micronutrient deficiencies, among others.
Vitamin Angels works to reduce these inequalities by ensuring underserved, pregnant women have access to the essential vitamins and minerals they need to have a healthy pregnancy. By addressing maternal nutrition and increasing nutrition equity across communities, Vitamin Angels is helping to reduce the intergenerational cycle of inequalities and their negative consequences for health and economic well-being.
“We are thrilled to be working with Alli Krieger and Ashlyn Harris who strongly believe that health is a woman’s right, not a privilege,” said Howard Schiffer, Vitamin Angels Founder & President. “Their willingness to share their voices to speak truth about the barriers women face to accessing essential nutrition plays an important role in helping to break these biases and pursue a more equitable future for all.”
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Vitamin Angels also partnered with illustrator, Sophie Konop, to design social media illustrations that encompassed the message of pursuing health equity for all women.
ABOUT VITAMIN ANGELS
Founded in 1994, Vitamin Angels is a public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition and health outcomes in low-resource settings worldwide. They strengthen, extend, and amplify the impact of their partner organizations working to reach the most nutritionally vulnerable groups – pregnant women, infants, and children – who are underserved by existing systems. They do this by delivering evidence-based interventions and offering technical assistance, including ongoing monitoring and evaluation, to ensure program quality, scale, and impact. Vitamin Angels works with over 1,200 local organizations, including governments, to reach more than 70 million women and children in 65 countries annually. Both Charity Navigator and GuideStar give Vitamin Angels their highest marks for financial transparency. To learn more, visit: www.vitaminangels.org.