WIC Coverage

WIC Coverage in United States

United States

Children who are not properly nourished in their first five years are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes. The federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has helped many families across the United States for the past 40 years. WIC’s main focus is on providing nutritious food, nutritional education, breastfeeding support and referrals to health care. Eligible WIC participants are also provided with coupons through the Farmers Market Nutrition Program to buy fresh produce from select farmers markets and stands closer to their homes, allowing more access to healthy foods with less travel time and expenses. 

Pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women and infants and children up to age 5 with low household incomes may be eligible to participate in the program. However, only 57% of eligible people participated in the program in 2019 due to a range of barriers, including misunderstanding of the program, time away from work to apply, transportation issues, and language and cultural barriers.

 The WIC program:

• Reduces food insecurity.
• Lowers risk of infant mortality, especially for African Americans. 
• Reduces risk of obesity and increases healthy relationships with foods.
• Improves immunization rates compared with those who do not participate in WIC.
• Improves cognitive development. 

A recent study found that every $1 spent on WIC saves an estimated $2.48 in medical, educational and productivity costs.

WIC participation is higher among: 

• Infants compared with 4-year-olds.
• Non-Hispanic white households, who had the highest use of WIC, with over 3 million participants, followed by Hispanic households.

Developing partnerships with local hospitals and clinics to spread awareness about the WIC program could drastically increase the number of eligible people who participate and remove misconceptions of WIC. 

Key factors for improving the success of the WIC program include:

• Publicizing eligibility for the WIC program to a diverse audience.
• Addressing transportation limitations to WIC centers.
• Improving cultural and language barriers.
• Providing culturally appropriate dietary options. 
• Improving the WIC clinical experience.
• Making shopping using WIC simple and widely available.

Healthy People 2030 has a number of goals related to nutrition in children, including:

• Eliminating very low food security among children.
• Increasing healthy food consumption among people ages 2 and older.
• Reducing household food insecurity and hunger.

Henchy, Geraldine. “Making WIC Work Better: Strategies to Reach More Women and Children and Strengthen Benefits Use.” Food Research & Action Center, May 2019. https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/Making-WIC-Work-Better-Full-Report.pdf.

Martins, Vinicius J. B., Telma M. M. Toledo Florêncio, Luciane P. Grillo, Maria Do Carmo P. Franco, Paula A. Martins, Ana Paula G. Clemente, Carla D. L. Santos, Maria de Fatima A. Vieira, and Ana Lydia Sawaya. “Long-Lasting Effects of Undernutrition.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 8, no. 6 (May 26, 2011): 1817–46. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph8061817.

Nianogo, Roch A., May C. Wang, Ricardo Basurto-Davila, Tabashir Z. Nobari, Michael Prelip, Onyebuchi A. Arah, and Shannon E. Whaley. “Economic Evaluation of California Prenatal Participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to Prevent Preterm Birth.” Preventive Medicine 124 (July 1, 2019): 42–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.04.011.