One of the most recognized public health programs in the United States is that of the Women, Infant and Children Program or the WIC program. The WIC program is developed to provide women and their children with healthy nutritional needs and the ability to gain access to various public health programs. Here is a look at the WIC program in depth.
The Women, Infants and Children program is a program that is funded by the federal government through federal tax money. It is intended to cover women who have recently discovered they were pregnant and women who have children under the age of five. Not only are the women covered under the program but their children are covered under the same policy. To qualify the family must be 130% below the federal poverty level.
The majority of the family’s nutritional needs are covered under the WIC Program. The family can purchase any number of selected nutritional items from participating vendors. The food that is selected usually covers all of the major food groups and covers the essential food items such as meat, dairy, fruits, grains and vegetables.
When a family qualifies they are given a EBT card which will be loaded with the approved amount of money onto the card every month. They can then take the card to any approved vendor and purchase any item that is approved on the list.
The WIC program also provides educational courses on healthy eating and nutritional needs to the mothers to participate in.
Although the WIC program focuses solely upon the nutritional needs of the mother and her children it is believed that this program helps keep low income families healthy by providing access to nutritional foods and goods. If there is a health concern a family under the WIC program can be directed to various community medical providers who will be able to take care of their medical needs.