WIC Coverage in South Carolina

South Carolina

Children who live in food insecure households are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes including stunting and being underweight. 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, nutrition 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.

The WIC program has been found to:

• Reduce food insecurity.
• Lower the risk of infant mortality, especially for African-American infants. 
• Reduce the risk of obesity and increase healthy relationships with foods.
• Improve immunization rates compared with those who do not participate in WIC.
• Improves cognitive development. 

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 50.2% of eligible people participated in 2020 due to various barriers, including misunderstanding of the program, time away from work to apply, transportation issues and language and cultural barriers.

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

WIC participation rates are higher among: 

• Infants compared with 4-year-olds.
• Hispanic infants and children compared with non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white infants and children.

Developing partnerships with local hospitals and clinics to spread awareness about the WIC program could drastically increase the number of eligible people participating and remove misconceptions about 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.” Washington, D.C.: Food Research & Action Center, May 2019. https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/Making-WIC-Work-Better-Full-Report.pdf.

Moradi, Sajjad, Atieh Mirzababaei, Hamed Mohammadi, Seyedeh Parisa Moosavian, Arman Arab, Behrooz Jannat, and Khadijeh Mirzaei. “Food Insecurity and the Risk of Undernutrition Complications among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Nutrition 62 (June 2019): 52–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2018.11.029.

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.