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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

The program safeguards the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care and social services.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Effective

This is the highest rating a program can achieve. Programs rated Effective set ambitious goals, achieve results, are well-managed and improve efficiency.
  • WIC has a positive impact on key health outcomes. Evaluations provide strong evidence that WIC has a positive impact on: (1) the incidence of low birthweight, and other key birth outcomes, and that these positive effects lead to savings in Medicaid costs and (2) children's intake of key nutrients and immunization rates.
  • Available program funds are utilized efficiently to maximize service to eligible participants. Over the last fifteen years the national average WIC food package cost has increased at a rate below the general rate of food inflation.
  • While WIC is largely meeting its long-term performance goals, challenges remain. As the proportion of children who are overweight or at risk of overweight has grown in both the WIC and non-WIC population, combating childhood obesity remains a challenge.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Initiating changes to the food package to reflect current nutritional guidelines, promote breastfeeding, and better address the health risks facing WIC population, including childhood obesity.
  • Monitoring State food package costs and cost containment efforts to promote continued cost efficiencies.
  • Promoting efforts to address childhood obesity by supporting special State projects which will build on previously-developed WIC-specific obesity prevention interventions.

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