Vulnerable population characteristics and support systems

WIC program is a federal program designed for mothers and their children. "The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk" (usda.gov). This federal program attempts to address the needs of the vulnerable population of single mothers or mothers from low-income households which have children and families which are nutritionally at risk: thus the program is able to provide these children (up to the age of five) with supplemental foods to help provide them with a more well0roudned diet. In certain respects, one of the reasons why this program is supported by the federal government is because it's a preventative program. By making sure that all infants have the right nutritional support so early in life helps prevent these children from developing more exacerbated or serious conditions or developmental issues later in life. Essentially, by providing the baseline level of nutritional support, the federal government is making sure that worse conditions and disease don't befall these innocent children later on in life which will no doubt put a huge strain on the health care system at large.

However, nutrition support is not all the program accomplishes. "WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children who are found to be at nutritional risk" (usda.gov). Originally the program was known as the "Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children," it officially changed its name in the mid-1990s so that it can emphasize its focus on providing well-rounded nutrition.

The research which has been done on the program has largely been positive. For example, researchers examined if there was a trend which had arisen between children enrolled in the program and those who were not and the incidence of childhood obesity (Sekhobo et al., 2010). "These results showed a slight decline in prevalence of childhood obesity and a continuing rise in prevalence of childhood overweight among children enrolled in the NYS WIC program during 2002 -- 2007. Future research should investigate the extent to which the slight decline in childhood obesity prevalence may be attributable to population-based and high-risk obesity prevention efforts in NYS" (Sekhobo et al., 2010).

However, the WIC program isn't perfect. The WIC program could engage in more aggressive action to promote breastfeeding. As some researchers have found, the package which is available to help promote exclusive breastfeeding is underutilized, which is something that the program could correct if they took active efforts (Holmes et al., 2009). In this manner, the program could make some changes to better serve the community.