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Program Analyses

Subtitle The supplemental Food Proqram for women, Infants and Children (WIC) should be expanded and made available to all eliqible clients.

WIC is a federal food program which has long-term demonstrated effectiveness as a nutrition program. WIC has been shown to prevent low birth weights, reduce pre-term births and fetal deaths, improve nutritional food intake and expand use of prenatal care by at-risk pregnant women. Yet despite this evidence of effectiveness, WIC is not yet funded as an entitlement program through the federal government. This means that a significant number of women and children eligible for WIC benefits can not be served by the program. In fact, only the highest risk groups receive WIC food vouchers in Sacramento County at this time.

Administered nationally by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and statewide by the California Department of Health Services, there are two local agencies which provide WIC services, the County Health Department and the YWCA. Currently the total combined WIC caseload for both local providers is 10,850. This represents 23% of the local eligible population of 47,000, as estimated by the state in its current "WIC Affirmative Action Plan". The current estimate of eligible WIC clients (47,000) is much higher than the 1989-90 state estimate for Sacramento County, which estimated 39,000 local women and children were eligible for WIC at that time.

The YWCA is currently serving 4,000 clients, or 37 percent of Sacramento county's total WIC caseload. The County Health Department serves the remaining 6,850 clients, or 63 percent of the local WIC caseload. The YWCA reports a six week waiting period for new enrollment appointments, while the county WIC provider estimates a seven week wait for enrollment appointments.

In response to this waiting period, and to make WIC benefits more rapidly available to at-risk pregnant women (the highest priority group for WIC services), the YWCA will be revising its enrollment criteria in May 1992. At that time, new enrollments of children will be restricted to those up to 13 months rather than the current 15 months.

The local WIC agencies believe that their outreach efforts are successful, since more pregnant women are requesting WIC services, and they are asking for help earlier in their pregnancies. Unfortunately, because WIC is not able to serve all eligible applicants, and until WIC becomes an entitlement program, many nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children will not be served.

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