VITAMIN ANGELS: SUPPLEMENTING
NUTRITION FOR UNDERSERVED
MOTHERS & CHILDREN
MOM & HEALTH PROMOTER JUANA, PERU
EVERY MOTHER. EVERY CHILD. To build a healthier world, Vitamin Angels starts at the very beginning.
Communities experiencing marginalization often suffer the most. Add the threat of malnutrition, and the cycle of poverty and poor health can hold families and communities in its grip for generations.
A public health nutrition organization, Vitamin Angels focuses on improving access to nutrition interventions for underserved pregnant women and young children.
Vitamin Angels collaborates with a global community of program partners in 70 countries, and the U.S., to promote equitable access to healthcare and nutrition.
Meeting the intense and urgent nutritional needs of growing bodies and minds makes a lasting impact. Healthy mothers are more likely to have healthy newborns. Children who grow up strong can thrive in school and in life. And when they do, a world of possibility emerges.
THE LEADER
EVERYWHERE. At least half of the world’s population lacks access to essential health services, according to the World Health Organization.
Juana starts her day at 6 a.m., caring for her children, the family animals, cooking, cleaning, and preparing to make the rounds in her community. As a qhali (or health promoter), working in partnership with Vitamin Angels local program partner, Juana holds an esteemed position. Her peers rely on her for information and guidance on everything from water filtration to prenatal nutrition and breastfeeding.
Juana leads by example, taking prenatal vitamins and minerals provided by Vitamin Angels during her most recent pregnancies. The benefits are not only clear to her, but to her community, which has quietly observed this powerhouse over the years. Now, many readily follow in her footsteps, hoping for a healthier future for their children, too.
HELPING AT HOME To increase health equity, Vitamin Angels works in every U.S. state and Puerto Rico, through a network of 350 program partners, to reach pregnant women who experience low socio-economic status, lack of health insurance, and other barriers. 450,000 women and their babies received Vitamin Angels’ high-quality prenatal vitamins and minerals and nutrition education materials that support maternal health and positive pregnancy outcomes in 2019.
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© All Photos Vitamin Angels / Sophia Billikopf PE17
A mother’s first role—in fact, the process that transitions her from woman to mother—is to make a life from scratch. But that’s only the beginning.
