Transcript The WIC Program

WIC: We Invest in Children
(also known as WIC: Women, Infants and Children)
Nutrition you need, when you need it most
The WIC Program
Background, Trends, and Issues*
Victor Oliveira, Elizabeth Racine,
Jennifer Olmsted, Linda M. Ghelfi
United States Department of Agriculture
Economic Research Service
Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report Number 27
September 2002
*Source of much of the data presented here. USDA’s WIC website and personal
experience in a WIC clinic is the source of the remaining. Amy Moore Giles, RD, CD
The Mission
• The mission of the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of lowincome women, infants and children up to age 5
who are at nutritional risk, by providing nutritious
foods to supplement diets, nutrition education,
and referrals to health care and other social
services.
The Premise
• WIC is based on the
premise that early
intervention programs
during critical times of
growth and
development can help
prevent future medical
and developmental
problems.
To Be Eligible for WIC
• A person must meet all these criteria:
– Be categorically eligible
– Be address eligible
– Be income eligible
– Have one or more nutrition risk factors
• If one or more of these criteria are not met, the
person is not eligible for WIC
WIC Eligibility
• Categorical: to participate in WIC a person
must be pregnant, breastfeeding (up to 1
year postpartum), non-breastfeeding (up to
6 months postpartum), an infant less that 1
year, or a child up to his/her fifth birthday
• Residential: must live in the area where
they are served
• Income: up to 185%
of poverty
– Household size includes
unborn baby
– Based on gross income
– Requires written
documentation
– Updated every July 1st
with an increase in the
limits
Household
size
Monthly
Income
2
$1,926
3
$2,416
4
$2,907
5
$3,397
Nutrition risk:
• As determined by a health professional
– Can be 1 of 5 major types
• Detrimental or abnormal nutritional
condition detectable by biochemical or
anthropometric measurements (anemia,
inadequate weight gain)
• Other documented nutritionally related
medical conditions (gestation diabetes)
Nutrition risk:
• Dietary deficiencies that impair or endanger
health (inadequate diet or inappropriate infant
feeding).
• Conditions that directly affect the nutritional
health of a person (drug and/or alcohol
abuse)
• Conditions that predispose persons to
inadequate nutritional patterns
(homelessness)
Where Can Families Find
WIC?
• WIC clinic addresses and phone numbers are
listed in the government pages of most phone
books
• A telephone call to a local health department will
also help a family locate a WIC clinic close to
them
• Searching for WIC and the state and city where
the family lives on the Internet
How Do Families Apply
for WIC?
• When a potential client calls a WIC clinic they
are prescreened on the phone for category,
address and income
• They are given an application appointment
where they will need to provide proof of
address, income, ID and completed WIC
medical/diet history forms
– Blank WIC medical/diet history forms can be mailed
or printed off WIC websites
What Happens at the First WIC
Appointment?
• The family presents proof of address, income, ID and
these are verified by WIC staff
• The family members applying for WIC are weighed,
measured and a blood test for anemia is done
• The family meets with a Registered Dietitian or other
nutrition professional for evaluation of growth, anemia risk
and diet
• The family receives their WIC vouchers and an
appointment to return for a WIC class is made for 3
months in the future
The WIC Food Package
• Provides nutrient dense foods such as:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Iron fortified cereals, may also be fortified with folic acid
100% fruit/vegetable juices with vitamin C
Carrots (exclusively breastfeeding women)
Milk and cheese
Eggs
Dried beans, peas and lentils/peanut butter
Tuna (exclusively breastfeeding women)
Iron fortified infant formula to supplement or replace breastmilk
feedings
Where Do WIC Clients Get
WIC Foods?
• WIC foods are purchased at regular grocery stores using WIC
vouchers
– A WIC voucher specifies the food and the amount of that food
the WIC client can get with that voucher
– A WIC food card lists the approved WIC foods, with brand names
specified on cereals, some juices and infant formula, for other
foods the WIC client must choose the least expensive brand.
– A WIC voucher acts like a check at the grocery store, each
voucher has a spending limit specified on it
– No tax is charged on WIC foods and no change is given when
using a WIC voucher
Who’s is Using WIC?
• 1 in 4 pregnant
women
• 1 in 2 infants
• 1 in 4 children
Is WIC Just
“Food and Formula”?
• WIC foods and WIC formula are meant to
supplement a low income family’s diet, allowing
the family to spend their limited food dollars on
other nutritious foods
• WIC is really about nutrition education that will
make a difference when the short term benefits
(the foods) are no longer available
Nutrition Education
• Meal planning
• Shopping on a budget
• Preparing low cost protein
foods like beans
• Buying fruits and
vegetables in season
• What to do about picky
eaters
• Fast meals at home
instead of fast food
• Choosing appropriate
serving sizes for age
• Enjoying family physical
activity
• Targeting the growing
problem of childhood
obesity
• Pregnancy Nutrition
• How to breastfeed
successfully
Breastfeeding Support
• Counseling from on-staff Certified Lactation
•
•
•
•
Educators
A “Breastfeeding Your Newborn” class
Telephone calls from an experienced mom before and
after baby’s birth
Free electric breastpump rentals if indicated by
medical need (such as hospitalized infant)
Free manual (hand operated) breastpump for
mothers returning to work or school
Referrals
• To prenatal care: Baby Your Baby/Medicaid
• To family planning: child spacing and pregnancy preparation,
i.e. folic acid supplements
• To well child care: Medicaid/CHIP
• Referral to health care provider/health department after
immunization screening
• To Early Intervention Programs (developmental delays)
• To Workforce Services: Food Stamps, Medicaid, Family
Employment Program
• To Child Support Enforcement
• To Head Start
WIC Outcomes
• Every dollar spent on a pregnant woman in WIC saves
Medicaid $1.92 to $4.21, depending on the study
parameters
• Women enrolled in WIC are found to seek prenatal care
earlier in pregnancy and consume more key nutrients
such as protein, iron, calcium, Vitamin C, and Folic Acid
• WIC results in fewer premature births and fewer low birth
weight babies, with fewer deaths
• WIC prenatal care benefits reduce the rate of very low
birth weight babies by 44%
WIC Outcomes
• Babies born to WIC mothers weighed more than their
siblings born when mom did not receive WIC
• A meta analysis concluded that for every dollar spent
providing WIC prenatal benefits in 1990, an estimated
$3.50 was saved over an 18-year period in Federal,
State, local and private health costs, primarily in the
health care area
• Even in accounting for potential bias, research confirms
that WIC has significant impact on birthweight and
significantly lowers birth-related Medicaid costs
WIC Outcomes
• Low income non-WIC children have more anemia than
WIC enrolled children
• The anemia rate at the six- month WIC visit is 16% lower
than at the initial WIC screening
• Children of mothers who participated in WIC during
pregnancy had better vocabulary test scores at ages four
to five
• Children who continued WIC after their first birthday had
better digit memory scores than those who did not
continue
Who Works In WIC
• Registered Dietitians
• Registered Nurses
• Health Educators with emphasis in
nutrition
• Home and Family Science majors with
emphasis in nutrition
• Lactation Educators and Consultants
Learn More About WIC
• www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr27/
• www.fns.usda.gov/fns/
• www.chn.org/issues/issue.asp?iss=32