Drs. Roopan Gill and Genevieve Tam are the founders of Vitala Global Foundation, one of the femtech companies that are paving the way to provide quality applications focused on women's specific needs.
They are innovating in two fields that have historically been male-dominated. In medicine, where women represent more than half of the students, but only 37% of practicing doctors in the United States. And then in technology, where just 17% of companies have a female CEO and as many as 91.88% of software developers are estimated to be men.
Their idea of creating digital solutions co-designed by women for women led them to found Vitala Global in 2020. This organization successfully launched the Aya Contigo app, a digital companion that provides reliable information on contraceptives and abortion.
Aya Contigo won the Patient Champion Award 2024 in the first HLTH Foundation Techquity for Health Coalition Case Study Competition, thanks to its partnership with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for the use of digital health to achieve exceptional advocacy on behalf of patients.
Aya Contigo won the Community Empowerment Award at the 25th Annual SXSW Innovation Awards, which spotlights projects that help empower underserved groups and people around the world. Vitala Global was also selected as the winner of the 2024 Innovation Showcase at the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston.
The Evolution of Aya Contigo
Initially, the project grew in Venezuela, where abortion is illegal, and then expanded to all 50 states in the United States, where pregnancy termination is restricted or prohibited in 21 states.
Since its launch in Venezuela in 2022, Aya Contigo has reached more than 6.500 unique users in the app, 1.800 people in street activities, and provided more than 870 accompaniments, with a positive user experience rate of 97%, according to its latest impact report.
This is proof not only that there is a real and unmet need for women's health apps focused on sexual and reproductive rights, but femtech companies are growing in reach.
Solutions in Challenging Settings
"When Vitala was started, me and my co-founder, we both worked with Doctors Without Borders. We've worked in very challenging contexts ourselves as emergency obstetrician-gynecologists. So we had seen firsthand folks dying from unsafe abortions. We saw people dying of maternal, and other maternal complications that are completely preventable. And so part of this intention of starting Vitala is to address that, but also to say that you can have these quality digital platforms or quality solutions be developed, embedded within the community in some of these contexts, addressing some of these most stigmatized issues”, Dr. Gill, CEO of Vitala Global, detailed in an interview for ‘Hit Like a Girl Pod’.
"Right now, doctors and the Internet are like gatekeepers preventing people from reaching their full potential in terms of reproductive autonomy," she says. "I really think it's about empowerment and autonomy and putting care in people's hands so they're the ones in control”.
Gill, who was recognized among the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in the Women of Courage Award, explained in Fast Company: “If we are able to do this in Venezuela, with the challenges of the complex humanitarian crisis, we can do this anywhere”.
User-Centered Adaptability
Dr. Genevieve Tam, co-founder and COO of Vitala Global Foundation emphasized that tools like Aya Contigo, which directly involve local communities in person-centered design, can go a long way in combating stigma.
During the process of creating Aya, "we again recognized that a digital application was not the only thing they needed. They also needed emotional support. We adapted and added a virtual chat through the app and WhatsApp, again listening to their needs. Part of our work is to iterate, adapt and respond to the requirements of the community," she explained during the 'Roundtable on Accelerating Equitable Digital Innovations for Women's Reproductive Health', held in October 2023 in New York, during the United Nations General Assembly.
These advances of women leading their own startups also have a boost in economic indicators. The global women's health app market size was valued at $3.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.6% between now and 2030.
Femtech Companies are filling critical gaps in the market
From abortion accompaniment to personalized contraceptive information, there are many needs that women-led technology companies are coming to meet. The World Economic Forum said that a $300 million investment in research focused on women could yield a return of $13 billion, but still, a minimum of venture capital funding goes to this area of research.
While advancements such as wearable devices, telemedicine platforms, and data analytics, are enabling the development of increasingly sophisticated health apps, there is a need to change the financial mindset so women can have the funding to develop these ideas. These apps can empower women to take proactive control of their health, just as Aya Contigo has been working in several challenging contexts globally.
Moreover, there's a cultural shift towards destigmatizing conversations around women's health issues, encouraging more open dialogue and acceptance of digital solutions. This cultural evolution, coupled with the increasing accessibility of smartphones and the Internet, creates a ripe environment for the widespread adoption of femtech solutions like those provided by Vitala Global.
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