Walgreens and Vitamin Angels Reach 200 Million Women and Children with Life-Changing Vitamins

September 16, 2019 /3BL Media/ Walgreens and non-profit Vitamin Angels announced today that they have supported more than 200 million women and children in the U.S and around the world through their partnership to improve child and maternal health.

Approximately one-third of women in the U.S. experience iron deficiency during pregnancy.[1] And nearly one-third of women residing in low and middle-income countries around the world do not have access to basic health services and are at increased risk for poor nutrition, including vitamin A deficiency[2] and anemia.[3]

Walgreens and Vitamin Angels have worked together for six years to raise funds to address these healthcare disparities:

• One percent of sales of participating vitamin products at Walgreens support Vitamin Angels’ outreach efforts to communities in need across the U.S. and globally.
• In January 2019, Walgreens held a ‘Quarter Drive’ customer donation program, which resulted in an additional $1.5 million raised to support Vitamin Angels work.   

Walgreens and its parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) are committed to improving societal health and wellbeing around the world.

“The strength of this partnership is our shared commitment to accessible, affordable health care, and Walgreens ability to bring this program to our customers in nearly every community nationwide,” said Alex Gourlay, president of Walgreens and Co-Chief Operating Officer of WBA. “Every child deserves a healthy future.”

Vitamin Angels operates in 74 countries through a network of over 1,600 field partners who provide health services and nutritional support across the critical window of a child’s development. These services include distributing prenatal multivitamins and Vitamin A, promotion of breast-feeding practices and deworming. Domestically, the organization works across every state in the U.S. to support pregnant women’s health with prenatal multivitamins and nutrition education.   

“With the support of Walgreens, Vitamin Angels has been able to reach millions of mothers and children under five at risk of malnutrition with life-saving nutrients,” said Howard Schiffer, founder and president of Vitamin Angels. “We are honored to be partnering with an organization that cares so much about children and moms in the U.S. and around the world.”

For more information on how you can support Vitamin Angels through Walgreens, visit www.walgreens.com/vitaminangels

For more information about Vitamin Angels, visit https://www.vitaminangels.org/

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About Walgreens

Walgreens (walgreens.com), one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. Approximately 8 million customers interact with Walgreens in stores and online each day, using the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice. As of Aug. 31, 2018, Walgreens operates 9,560 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with its omni-channel business, Walgreens.com. Approximately 400 Walgreens stores offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services.

About Vitamin Angels

Vitamin Angels is a global public health organization working to end malnutrition worldwide by distributing life-changing vitamins and minerals to at-risk mothers and children under five in the U.S. and around the world. In 2019, Vitamin Angels will provide vitamins and minerals to over 70 million mothers and children in more than 70 countries, including domestically in the U.S. Both Charity Navigator and GuideStar give Vitamin Angels their highest marks for financial transparency. To learn more, visit www.vitaminangels.org.

[1] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Iron status of North American pregnant women: an update on longitudinal data and gaps in knowledge from the United States and Canada, 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5701721/

[2] UNICEF. Coverage at a Crossroads: New directions for vitamin A supplementation programmes. New York: UNICEF, 2018. https://data.unicef.org/resources/vitamin-a-coverage/ https://data.unicef.org/resources/vitamin-a-coverage/

[3] Maternal and Child Nutrition. Barriers and enablers for iron folic acid (IFA) supplementation in pregnant women, 2017. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mcn.12532; USAID. STATcompiler. Retrieved from: https://www.statcompiler.com/en/