About WIC - Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program
The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Nutrition Program helps pregnant women, new mothers, and young children eat well, learn about nutrition, and stay healthy. As a nutrition intervention program, WIC is designed to improve the diets of pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and children (up to age 5), who are at nutritional risk. By helping to improve access to quality nutrition services and healthy foods, WIC improves infant feeding practices and child development and encourages healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.

The positive impact of WIC goes beyond the families directly served by the program with money going back into the community through retail sales. There are approximately 350 retail grocery partners in the MFHS service area, which translates to over $35 million per year in gross sales from the WIC Program.

Independent studies have proven WIC to be one of the nations most successful and cost-effective nutrition intervention programs. For every $1 spent by this program, more than $3 in subsequent health care costs are saved.

Who is eligible and who can apply?

• Pregnant women.
  
• Women who are breastfeeding a baby under one year of age.
  
• Women who have had a baby in the past six months.
  
• Parents, step-parents, guardians, and foster parents of infants and children under age five can apply for their children.
  
  

Even if you have a job or private health insurance, you can still apply for WIC. Marital status does not affect your ability to apply.

To be eligible, you must:
To qualify for the program, participants must meet WIC income guidelines, have a nutritional or medical need and live in Pennsylvania. For those who qualify, benefits begin with the first appointment.

• Meet the income guidelines. Households with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty income level are eligible. WIC determines income based on gross income. WIC counts all of the members of a household, related or non-related. WIC counts an unborn baby as a household member.
  

• Have a nutritional or medical need. WIC clients receive an initial health and diet screening at a WIC clinic to determine nutritional risk. WIC uses two main categories of nutritional risk:
  1) Medically-based risks such as history of poor pregnancy outcome, underweight status, or iron deficiency anemia.
  2) Diet-based risks such as, poor eating habits which can lead to poor nutritional and health status. Clients will be counseled at WIC about these risks and the outcome influenced by nutrition education and nutritious foods provided by WIC.
  
• Live in Pennsylvania. WIC clients usually receive services in the county where they live. U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for eligibility.
  
  *Clients must apply in person except in certain limited cases.
  

Benefits of WIC
WIC is an investment in early childhood development with reduced infant mortality, fewer premature births, healthier babies and children, and lower Medicaid costs.

• Studies show that WIC plays an important role in improving birth outcomes and containing health care costs.
  
• WIC has a positive impact on children's diets.
  
• WIC improves infant feeding practices by actively promoting breastfeeding as the best method of infant feeding.
  
• WIC clients have improved rates of childhood immunizations and a regular source of health care.
  
• Women in the WIC program deliver healthier babies.
  
• Children born to women who have received WIC benefits have better vocabularies and memory scores than comparable non-WIC children.
  
  
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