TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly signed a proclamation yesterday honoring the 50th anniversary of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Kansas. Since the WIC program was first introduced in 1974, it has helped Kansas families access healthy, nutritional foods to better support the development of their children.
“WIC is critical to providing infants and children necessary resources,” Governor Kelly said. “I am grateful for the positive impact the program has made on Kansas families through education, food access and other support for the past 50 years. I look forward to the program’s continued success.”
The WIC program provides funds to nearly seven million families across the country. The 2022 WIC Participant and Program Characteristics report found that over half of all WIC participants reported an income below 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
Since 2010, WIC has served over 1.4 million women, infants and children in Kansas. One in 30 individuals is currently eligible for the program. Each month, WIC serves 48,000 individuals in 102 Kansas counties.
“WIC is a tremendous asset to families across Kansas,” KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek said. “I am proud of the work our agency and the local health departments across the state have done over the last 50 years to ensure families and children improve their nutrition-related health outcomes. We would not have been so successful in those outcomes without the many partnerships we have forged with health professionals, organizations, and community leaders.”
The WIC program was initially developed from concerns about widespread malnutrition among low-income mothers and children. With a shift in thinking, access to healthy food became a public health policy. In the same way medicine is prescribed for other illnesses, food is prescribed for malnutrition. This perspective saw the government venture into tackling the malnutrition crisis with proactive policy, allowing more Americans to receive the nutrition they need in their most critical formative years.
In addition to offering nutrition education and healthy foods to enable families to make lifelong healthy eating and lifestyle choices, the WIC Program is deeply involved in addressing other maternal and child health areas. This includes promoting breastfeeding as the optimum choice for infant feeding and providing support to lactating parents and their infants. Education is also provided to participants about the dangers of drug, alcohol and tobacco use, reinforcing the importance of childhood immunizations and screening for lead poisoning.
For more information on WIC in Kansas, please visit KDHE’s WIC webpage at https://rb.gy/dotnq1.
