Thursday - May 01, 2014
Champaign, IL - In 2013, the Illinois WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program served over 280,000 low-income, pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants and children. Governor, Pat Quinn, recently issued a Proclamation announcing April 2014 as WIC Month in Illinois, encouraging all citizens to support and promote the WIC program.
The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) offers the WIC program to clients assisting over 4,000 families each year offering knowledge and skills to help them make healthy choices for their families. WIC is a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program that provides healthy food vouchers and is aimed to improve the health and wellbeing of pregnant women, moms and infants up to age 5. According to the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), "Nearly 40 percent of all babies born in Illinois are WIC participants and research shows that WIC has been successful in the reduction of fetal deaths, infant mortality, low birth weight rates, iron deficiency anemia in children and increased immunization rates."
Read the full press relase. (PDF)