The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, has been around for 50 years, providing food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and health care referrals to low-income mothers, pregnant women and their kids under 5.
About half of the infants born in the country are beneficiaries of the federal initiative, which Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers recently found is linked to improved birth outcomes and lower infant mortality.
But not everyone who could be helped through this much-lauded resource has been taking advantage of it. There were 12.13 million women and children eligible to participate in WIC in 2021, yet a little more than half — 51%, or 6.21 million — actually did, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service reported.
In Illinois that year, 44.2% of families who qualified for WIC were not enrolled. Currently, only slightly more than a third of eligible 419,000 participants in the state are signed up, according to a recent Sun-Times report by Hoda Emam.
With food insecurity still a challenge, it should be a priority to ramp up enrollment in a program designed to alleviate hunger and improve health among moms and the youngest children.
Education and awareness are obviously essential here. If people don’t know WIC exists, they can’t even take the steps to find out if they’re eligible. If undocumented immigrants are under the impression they could be reported or their immigration status put in jeopardy if they even try to determine eligibility or participate, fear and hesitation will keep them away.
Pediatricians and others, including social service agency staff who may have direct contact with mothers and expectant mothers who may qualify, ought to routinely alert them about WIC, which just secured full funding for fiscal year 2024.
The state should also ramp up any existing public awareness campaigns and boost the distribution of brochures or public service announcements on traditional and social media. More pop-up clinics, where women could go to fulfill the requirement to apply in person, could also go a long way in spreading the word.
It might also be helpful to assess how access to WIC can be improved in Illinois, which currently has no online application in the state. In-person applications might be more helpful to some, to submit birth certificates, Social Security cards and W2 tax statements to enroll. But for others, would a process to scan those documents and submit them with a click of a button save time and still be secure?
The program, as some parents note, has drawback, like limited food choices. Less processed foods, for instance, sometimes aren’t eligible.
But the numbers make it clear that too many mothers and their children aren’t taking advantage of the options they do have.
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