Food Assistance: Performance Measures for Assessing Three WIC Services

摘要

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)is a federally funded $4.1 billion-a-year nutrition assistance program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). During fiscal year 2000, this program provided $3 billion for supplemental foods and $1.1 billion for nutrition services and administration to assist lower-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. FNS provided annual cash grants to support program operations at 88 state-level agencies. These 88 agencies administered the program through more than 1,800 local WIC agencies. To help the Congress better understand the costs of delivering nutrition services and administering WIC, the William F. Goodling Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-336) directed GAO to assess various aspects of WIC nutrition services and administration. This report, the third in a series responding to this request, examines the performance measures that FNS uses to assess the nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, and health referral services provided to WIC program participants.