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The week of October 1st, a federal program designed to provide food to pregnant women, infants and children to five years of age will be implemented statewide in Virginia. Known as WIC (for Women, Infants and Children’s Supplemental Feeding Program) the feeding program gives food vouchers to mothers and children classified as “nutritional risks” by the local or state health departments which issues the vouchers. The prime goals of WIC are to bring combinations of extra foods to society’s most vulnerable group: pregnant women and nursing mothers with very low incomes and their children to five years.
Low-income pregnant or nursing women and their small children are especially vulnerable because the need for nutrients and health care is greatest at these periods of life. Surveys reveal that poor diet, iron-deficiency anemia, abnormal weight problems and inadequate prenatal care are common among lowincome pregnant women. The U.S. Preschool Nutrition Survey also shows that infants and small children, especially in poverty groups, have many problems related to poor diet.
(Conception to age 5 is a critical period of growth and development. The period of most rapid brain growth is from -3 months before birth to six months after birth. Ninety per cent of all postnatal brain growth occurs in the first 3 years of life. If children are malnourished during that time, they may become mentally retarded. Malnutrition also increases the infant death rate. In short, less food equals more chance of brain damage and disease and even death.)
By supplementing the nutrition of these groups, the
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