The Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)--How Can It Work Better?

Gao ID: CED-79-55 February 27, 1979

A follow-on review of the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was conducted.

Several WIC programs did not provide needed health services as requested by Congress. Many of the programs were affected by the following: (1) required professional assessments of applicants' nutritional status were not being made in some locations; (2) states used different criteria for judging whether applicants were nutritional risks and eligible for the program and supplemental food packages seldom were tailored to participants' individual nutritional needs; (3) nutrition education and program evaluation have not received the priority and attention they deserve; and (4) program regulations contain provisions hindering effective evaluations.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Brian P. Crowley Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 512-9450


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.