WHAT IS IRON DEFICIENCY?

• Iron deficiency affects more people globally than any other condition, constituting what the WHO calls a public health condition of "epidemic proportions.” Worldwide, 56 million pregnant women – 42% of all pregnant women – each year are anemic, along with 40% of preschool aged children in developing countries. Anemia, a condition in which a person does not have enough healthy red blood cells (which provide oxygen to body tissue) can be triggered by several micronutrient deficiencies, the most significant of which is lack of iron.
• Iron deficiency anemia devastates the health of pregnant women and their unborn children, increasing the risk of mortality and morbidity during childbirth, including hemorrhage and low-birth weight. The WHO estimates that anemia contributes to 20% of all maternal deaths. Long-term, childhood anemia (which is strongly correlated with maternal anemia) often leads to lifelong cognitive and motor skills impairment, which leads to depressed productivity across entire societies.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

• The WHO recommends that all women who live in severely anemic countries take an iron pill each day of their second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Unfortunately, many women who have access to pills (either purchased on their own or provided by NGOs/government) do not take them regularly.
• India is one of the world's most anemic countries. Of the 26 million pregnant women in India every year, 17 million have access to iron pills. Yet 11 million do not take them for the recommend time, an adherence rate of only 35%.  As a result, the cycle of anemia, poor health outcomes, and reduced productivity remains unbroken. The overall economic loss from iron deficiency anemia has been estimated to be up to US $100 billion per year in India alone.

 
WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?

• The World Bank found that despite decades of effort and “policies to provide pregnant women with iron in a supplement form, maternal anemia prevalence has not declined significantly where large-scale programs have been evaluated." In public health literature, the pathway to reduce anemia among pregnant women is to build a functional health system that educates women on why they should overcome their desire to not take iron pills. Unfortunately, many developing countries do not have sufficiently functional systems to facilitate quality antenatal services, especially in rural areas (nor do they have the political capital to create them). While building such a system long-term should be supported, we believe innovation solutions exist to reduce non-adherence and anemia more quickly.

WHAT IS VIOLET HEALTH DOING?

• We began by asking pregnant women why they didn't like taking iron pills.  After extensive interviews with pregnant women, OB/GYNs, and public health researchers throughout India, we're developing alternatives to iron pills that fit within the culture and community of the end user - the pregnant women. We believe our solutions will show greater adherence, reduced iron deficiency, and better health outcomes among the non-adherent pregnant women in India and their unborn children.

WHO IS VIOLET HEALTH?

• Violet Health was founded by Jennifer Tsai, MPH, and Matthew Edmundson, who received their MBAs from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Violet Health is named in honor of NYU Stern, which brought the co-founders together, fostered their growth and provided early support.