A new survey released last month found that women’s health hasn’t improved since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the global percentage of women struggling to afford food rose from 34% to 36%. When women’s health and nutrition are stagnant, so are fetal and child health and development.
During pregnancy, nutrient needs increase by as much as 50% to support fetal development and growth and to maintain the health of the mother. Yet, many women in the United States don’t have access to the foods needed for a healthy dietary pattern and are under-consuming key nutrients that support a healthy pregnancy, like folic acid, iron, iodine and choline—nutrients found in eggs, fish, and vegetables. Disparities in diet quality persist, leaving those underserved by current food assistance programs even more vulnerable to the health implications of a poor diet during pregnancy.
In infancy and early childhood, establishing a healthy diet is essential, as this is a period of significant growth and development that sets the stage for a child’s lifelong health trajectory. Yet many infants and young children in the United States are not getting their nutritional needs met, leaving them vulnerable.
Food Insecurity in the United States
Food insecurity, or limited access to sufficient food or food with nutritional value due to a lack of resources, affects 14 million households in the United States annually. Food insecurity often leads to poor diet quality, and families experiencing food insecurity report lower intakes of vegetables, fruits, and milk and higher intakes of food lacking key nutrients and minerals.
Food insecurity can also contribute to complications during pregnancy, like gestational diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and mental health problems, as well as poor birth outcomes, like low birth weight, and birth defects. Simple solutions—like the federal government’s Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)—can make a huge impact on addressing food insecurity and, subsequently, maternal health. Programs such as WIC are critical in expanding access to key nutrients, improving dietary intake and cardiovascular health, and can also be an important modulator in improving perinatal birth outcomes.
WIC: Simple Solution to a Healthy Start for All
WIC is an essential federal program safeguarding the nutritional well-being of pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children. By providing food vouchers and nutrition education to those who qualify, WIC expands access to additional supplemental foods known to support the nutritional demands during critical periods of growth and development.
Currently, approximately 10% of all U.S. households qualify for WIC annually, yet only half of eligible households, 6.3 million, receive coverage. It’s clear that WIC is critical to improving food insecurity, diet quality and improved pregnancy outcomes—that’s why the program needs to be accessible to those who need it.
WIC and Governmental Funding Challenges
Though WIC is critical to improving overall nutritional health, it is a discretionary grant program that is contingent on annual funding through Congress. Therefore, unlike other federal programs, WIC is vulnerable to being underfunded, or could even be removed from the federal budget entirely. As we’ve seen 14 times since 1980, temporary government shutdowns halt WIC benefits. In the past year alone, there have been three government shutdown threats, which create uncertainty and nutritional instability for families that rely on WIC.
With the rising costs of food, more pregnant women, infants, and young children are vulnerable to the health impacts of nutrition security, making WIC even more essential. Our current financial climate shows that WIC requires additional funding to serve all who require its services. On top of rising inflation, we’re also in the midst of a maternity care crisis, making it even more critical that programs like WIC are fully funded.
Filling the Gaps
In addition to ensuring women, infants, and young children have access to the nutrition they need, WIC also enhances other government-funded programs, like SNAP, to ensure that those experiencing increased nutrient demands, receive access to adequate foods.
But government assistance programs can still fall short when comprehensively addressing nutrition needs. That’s why nutrition and supplement organizations, like Vitamin Angels, work to collaborate with WIC to fill the gaps. Vitamin Angels is a global public health non-profit working to improve maternal and child nutrition by delivering evidence-based nutrition solutions to underserved communities. In the U.S., Vitamin Angels has nearly 200 program partners across all 50 U.S. states, including partnerships with 36 WIC clinics in 15 states.
Vitamin Angels provides its program partners with prenatal multivitamins, allowing those underserved by current programs to access this essential nutritional intervention. Additionally, in 2021-2023, Vitamin Angels partnered with select WIC organizations to test various supplemental food programs, providing families served with additional, tailored nutrition education and healthy, local foods.
Together, Vitamin Angels continues to collaborate with WIC organizations and program partners to ensure that all women and young children have access to essential nutritional interventions that support a healthy pregnancy and a healthy start to life.
