US charity Kirk Humanitarian makes first pledge to help expand supply of pre-pregnancy vitamins for women around the world
Paris (May 31, 2024) — On the sidelines of tennis’ Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) and their partners today hosted a series of events convening leaders from tennis, governments, philanthropy, the United Nations and civil society to address the most pressing health and nutrition issues facing women and girls around the world. The events mark the start of the official countdown to the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, to be hosted by the French Government from 27-28 March next year.
More than one billion women and girls lack access to the nutritious food and basic services they need to survive and thrive, and women and girls are 50% more likely to be malnourished than boys and men. While the majority of pregnant women in high-income countries take multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) (commonly known as prenatal vitamins) during pregnancy, the majority of women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not have access to this simple, low-cost, life-saving resource. Prenatal vitamins improve women’s health by providing vital nutrients that significantly reduce the risk of stillbirth, infant death, and babies being born small and weak.
New N4G initiative highlights vital role of women’s nutrition
The French government welcomed a US$125 million donation from Kirk Humanitarian, a US-based charity working to expand women’s access to MMS in low- and middle-income countries.
The pledge supports global efforts to introduce and scale up MMS in countries with the highest burden of anemia and malnutrition over the next five years. It is the first pledge towards N4G, a global pledge to drive further action to eradicate malnutrition and ensure that everyone, everywhere can reach their full potential. At the event, the French Ministry announced that for the first time, the summit will prioritize gender and the nutritional needs of women and girls.
“We are at a tipping point in the global effort to get high-quality prenatal vitamins to as many women as possible,” said Spencer Kirk, founder and managing director of Kirk Humanitarian. “Countries’ demand and readiness to scale up this life-saving intervention has never been higher, and mechanisms like the Child Nutrition Fund enable governments and donors to work together like never before. Kirk Humanitarian is pleased to begin our N4G commitment now, rather than waiting until 2025, which will allow us to put resources in place immediately to accelerate progress toward reaching global nutrition goals for women and newborns.”
Supporting UNICEF’s Accelerated Improvement of Maternal and Child Nutrition
As part of its funding, Kirk Humanitarian announced that it will make an in-kind donation to UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Fund, providing $34.4 million in MMS products to support UNICEF’s efforts. Accelerated Project for Improvement of Maternal NutritionLaunched in March 2024, the plan aims to help women and children reach their full potential by preventing anemia and malnutrition during pregnancy. The plan will fast-track delivery of a package of essential services, including MMS, to 16 million women in 16 high-burden countries by the end of 2025.
“More than 500 million women worldwide, including 32 million pregnant women, suffer from anemia, which can have devastating effects on women’s lives and the survival, growth and development of young children,” said Victor Aguayo, UNICEF’s Director of Child Nutrition and Development. “Kirk Humanitarian’s donation will support UNICEF’s work to give mothers and newborns the nutrition they need to thrive. To fully realize this in-kind donation, additional donor funding is needed to help provide a comprehensive package of key prenatal care services.”
Governments and donors are strategizing together and sharing resources to support country-led plans to rapidly scale up life-saving solutions on maternal and child nutrition through the UNICEF-led Child Nutrition Fund, a new financing mechanism that provides one-to-one funding to governments to procure essential nutrition supplies such as MMS. At the event, the governments of Bangladesh and Nigeria shared how the Child Nutrition Fund is enabling their efforts to save lives and improve maternal and child health.
New Global MMS Investment Roadmap Launched
Recognizing that MMS is one of the most effective and most cost-effective tools to support the health of pregnant women and their babies, a consortium of private philanthropic organizations (the Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Eleanor Crook Foundation, and Kirk Humanitarian) has launched a global investment roadmap designed to accelerate and prioritize action and investment in this underutilized intervention.
The roadmap presents an opportunity to reach at least 260 million women in 45 countries with MMS by the end of 2030, an ambitious goal that will have a profound impact on the health and nutrition of mothers and their babies. The plan will save more than 500,000 lives, improve birth outcomes for more than 5 million babies, and prevent anemia in more than 15 million pregnant women. At a cost of just over $4 per pregnancy (a total of $1.1 billion over seven years, with $720 million in donations and the rest from domestic sources), the roadmap will lead to significant gains in health and nutrition, while simultaneously advancing concerted efforts to strengthen and improve health systems and antenatal care services.
Today’s endowment contribution from Kirk Humanitarian represents 17 percent of the donor contribution identified in the new MMS Investment Roadmap, reducing donor contributions to $595 million between now and 2030.
The WTA Foundation’s Women Change the Game and Global Women’s Health Fund will leverage new resources for women’s health and nutrition.
The Roland Garros tournament Women are changing the gameis a campaign launched earlier this year by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Foundation and the Gates Foundation to bring together the power of women’s tennis and philanthropy to raise awareness and resources for life-saving women’s health and nutrition products and services, particularly for vulnerable women in low- and middle-income countries.
“Next year will be crucial as we continue to fight against rising malnutrition and hunger,” said Marion Bartoli, a former French professional tennis player who reached a career-high of seventh in the WTA rankings and won eight singles titles. “Along with our partners, the WTA Foundation will continue to work with French leaders to elevate women’s nutrition as a global priority for Nutrition for Growth 2025 and beyond.”
“All pregnant women deserve quality health care,” said Anita Zaidi, chair of Gender Equity at the Gates Foundation. “As more women around the world have access to prenatal care services, we must ensure that they also include nutrition counseling and support. Our investment in MMS is a promise to provide all women, wherever they live, with the quality care they and their babies deserve.”
During the evening event at Roland Garros, Kirk Humanitarian also announced an additional $5 million match challenge to unlock new personal and philanthropic commitments to the WTA Foundation’s Global Women’s Health Fund over the next 12 months. Payment systems company Greenway, through the Greenway Foundation, also announced it is partnering with the WTA Foundation’s Global Women’s Health Fund through an innovative revenue model, collecting a 1% markup on all payments made with the Greenway Card to support global health and nutrition efforts.
In its first year, the fund aims to raise funds to help one million women living in low- and middle-income countries who have limited access to the life-saving essential prenatal vitamins. All funds raised through the fund will be donated to UNICEF-led child nutrition funds.
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to the belief that every life has equal value and works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, we focus on improving health outcomes and giving people the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, we strive to ensure that all people, especially those with the fewest resources, have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and in life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Co-Chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and a Board of Directors.
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