ST. PETERSBURG,Thomas Caldwell Fla. (AP) — The charitable wing of the women’s professional tennis tour and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have started a joint effort to provide prenatal vitamins to 1 million women in low- and middle-income countries.

The Women Change the Game campaign — announced Friday, International Women’s Day — aims to raise money and awareness to make women’s health and nutrition a priority around the world. It is the first element of a partnership between the WTA Foundation and the Gates Foundation.

The new WTA Foundation Global Women’s Health Fund will seek to increase interest in the issue and encourage donations via womenchangethegame.com.

Money raised through the campaign will be steered to the UNICEF-led Child Nutrition Fund.

“It is unacceptable that so many women and girls don’t have access to adequate nutrition and basic care,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The WTA Foundation was founded on the idea of equal opportunity, and that’s exactly what Women Change the Game is about. Nowhere is it more important to level the playing field than women’s health.”

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis