We hit the ground running in 2023! Our goal this year is to expand the work we have done in Venezuela to other parts of Latin America and the United States. As Roe v. Wade fell last year, some of those who have been most affected by states walking back their abortion laws are Latina/xs. It became apparent that the United States was now what would be considered a"challenging context" for abortion rights.
We've been fundraising to expand our team and our research into the United States market and other Latin American countries including Mexico. We are so grateful to your generous contributions and ongoing support. What continues to be clear, is how important and necessary this work is so that women and girls everywhere have access to safe and reliable healthcare.
This year, we've already met so many new friends in the space: leaders and advocates for women's health. We are fueled by the passion of our community to continue this work and we look forward to realizing our goals throughout the rest of this year. Here are some of the highlights of 2023 so far!
January 2023:
Vitala kicked off user-testing for our new digital abortion solution for Latina/xs living in the United States.
We attended Sundance for the film premiere of Plan C; a documentary about the advocates working in the United States to improve access to medication abortion and received a grant from Plan C; a leader in the space of abortion research and advocacy and provider of medication abortion pills.
The IBP Network published an op-ed: Turning storytelling challenges into strengths to advance SRH, featuring Vitala's work implementing the WHO Guidelines for abortion in our app, Aya Contigo.
February:
We were featured in Fast Company in an article about startups that are improving access to abortion and SRH in Latin America.
Co-founder, Dr. Roopan Gill presented at the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston on the panel: Journey to Health Equity through Increasing Access to Care, alongside: Neel Shah, Chief Medical Officer of Maven Clinic; Maya Hardigan, Founder & CEO of Mae; Ru-fong Joanne Cheng, MD, Senior Medical Director, Women's Health at Johnson & Johnson and Asima Ahmad, MD, MPH, FACOG, Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer of Carrot Fertility.
We established a new partnership with Fos Feminista for the US and LATAM opportunities.
We released our first Impact Report since Vitala launched in 2020. This report highlights our work from 2020-2022 and the impact we've made in Venezuela within the challenging healthcare landscape. Check it out!
Dr. Gill spoke on a panel for the Partnership for Women’s Health Research Canada (PWHR) on Digital Innovations in Abortion Care alongside Sarah Munro; Dr. Melissa Brooks, MD and Joanna Erdman, JD.
March:
Dr. Gill and Vitala's Design & Impact Strategist, Maria Isabel Argenal attended the Latin American Impact Investing Forum (FLII) alongside 700+ innovators, investors, and market builders connecting on ways to address humanity’s most pressing issues - from environmental degradation to lack of access to sexual and reproductive health.
Dr. Roopan Gill received the "Canadian Women Entrepreneur" nomination by Women of Influence.
We kicked off a partnership with Northwestern University's marketing program. The students of this program will be supporting our marketing efforts in 2023.
We were interviewed by BBC Business Daily Podcast for a story on FemTech.
Dr. Roopan Gill received the First in FemTech award by FemHealth Insights! This award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated significant contributions to women's health innovation.
Vitala is excited to collaborate with Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) to user-test our digital abortion companion, Aya Contigo, as we adapt it to support the Latina/x and Hispanic community in the United States.
Vitala is a not-for-profit company and we run on your donations. If you would like to be a part of our journey, please consider a donation, which is tax-deductible in Canada and the United States. Learn more below.
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