The Virtue Foundation concluded its 2022 healthcare initiatives with a mission to Ghana. In November, with the largest team to date – 15 doctors, surgeons, nurses, and volunteers – from the United States and Austria began the holiday season to serve communities in the underserved northwest region, including Tumu and Wa, with healthcare and educational initiatives.
Virtue Foundation has always been dedicated to three core areas: healthcare, education, and women’s empowerment. During this year’s trip to Ghana, the Virtue Foundation team was very excited about the opportunity to also work towards an educational initiative, supporting the renovation of the Tutco Demonstration Basic School.
The Virtue Foundation’s Actionable Data Initiative continues to grow and expand, drawing more interest from the global health community.
In November 2022, Drs. Adam Jacobson and Theresa Tran led a surgical mission to the K National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In August 2022, Dr. Parag Gandhi, an oculoplastic and reconstructive surgeon, who has served as a Virtue Foundation volunteer for several years, led a mission to Ecuador.
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Virtue Foundation Surgical and Teaching Mission to Mongolia resumed in May of 2022.
Earlier this year, the Virtue Foundation Austria team made a donation of medical equipment valued at $600,000 to Sofia’s Second City Hospital in Bulgaria.
Antibiotics are a valuable tool against serious infections, including pneumonia. Virtue Foundation has donated 20,000 doses of IV amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (known as taromentin in Austria and augmentin in the U.S.) to the Wa Regional Hospital in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
The aims and methods of philanthropy have changed considerably over the years, and tech has played a huge role in that transformation. At the October 2020 Horasis Extraordinary Meeting, Virtue Foundation co-founder Dr. Joan LaRovere told how VF’s AI-driven Data Mapping Initiative can serve as an example to other nonprofits as they seek to match resources and need. Horasis, convened with the UN, is the world’s foremost gathering of business leaders who interact with key government officials and eminent thought leaders.
Virtue Foundation’s groundbreaking Data Mapping Initiative is a first-of-its-kind mapping-and- matching global health platform—and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of AI tech company DataRobot and its AI for Good program. VF co-founder Dr. Joan LaRovere spoke at DataRobot’s AI Experience World virtual Conference in May 2021.