Vital
About Vital

For women's health.For good.

Vital Women's Foundation exists to change how women's health is funded, understood, and cared for — partnering with governments and communities, and backing the research and ideas that carry it forward.

Why we exist

For generations, women's health has been under-researched, underfunded, and waved away. In 2023, just 7% of Canada's federal health research grants went to female-specific health. Endometriosis still takes more than five years to diagnose. Half of women having a heart attack have their symptoms missed. These aren't isolated gaps — they're a pattern. Vital exists to close it.

7%

of Canada's federal health research grants funded female-specific health in 2023

5.4 years

the average wait for an endometriosis diagnosis in Canada

1 in 2

women having a heart attack have their symptoms go unrecognized

Tripled

anxiety among young women in Canada, in just ten years

Sources
From the founder

I spent years watching women I love pushed to the edges of their own health care — told their pain was normal, told to wait. I started Vital because 'wait' has never been an answer, and because the research, funding, and respect women deserve were never going to arrive on their own. I don't need my name on this. I need it to work.

The Founder, Vital Women's Foundation

What we stand for

01

Evidence first

We build on research, cite our sources, and say plainly when the data isn't there yet.

02

Every stage

From first periods to menopause and beyond — we show up for the whole of a woman's life, not just its headlines.

03

Equity at the core

Every woman, every background, every postal code. Care that reaches everyone, or it isn't good enough.

04

Built to last

Not a campaign or a trend. A foundation designed to keep working long after the moment passes.

This is bigger than any one of us

Partner with us, fund the work, volunteer, or lend your voice. However you show up, you help carry it forward.

Get involved