Allowing remote access to WIC nutrition, health benefits could keep more children enrolled
Allowing families to recertify their enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) remotely, rather than via in-person visits, was associated with greater retention in the program—and more low-income children continuing to access WIC benefits including nutritious foods and health care, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The study was published Sept. 25 in JAMA Network Open. Erica Kenney, associate professor of public health nutrition, was the corresponding author.
Research has shown that WIC helps reduce the risk of food insecurity and improves birth outcomes and cognitive development among the low-income women, babies, and young children participating in the program. But, the researchers wrote, “WIC is not leveraged to its full potential.” Participation tends to sharply decline over time: Nationwide, more than three-quarters of eligible infants are enrolled in WIC, compared to one-quarter of children by age four. One possible reason families don’t maintain their enrollment in WIC is the burden of having to attend in-person visits to recertify their eligibility. They may not make it to the WIC clinic, where they’re required to periodically verify their household income and other eligibility factors, because of challenges around transportation, childcare, and/or time off from work.
The researchers sought to assess the impact of strategies that could help families stay enrolled in WIC. They studied administrative data on more than 238,000 children participating in WIC between 2017 and 2022 in Massachusetts, a state where program retention was on the decline. Partway through the study period, in March 2020, families were given the option of recertifying their WIC eligibility remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The researchers found that, after remote visits were implemented, WIC retention steadily increased each month. “While the changes were initially made to eliminate the risk of viral transmission,” they wrote, “they also may have addressed … one barrier to maintaining WIC participation: the complexity of keeping up with required in-person activities, particularly for families with often limited access to childcare or transportation.”
They added, “Policy efforts to streamline WIC services and make remote services permanent, such as the More Options to Develop and Enhance Remote Nutrition in WIC Act of 2025, should be prioritized.”
Read the study:
Remote Services, Benefits, and Program Retention Changes Among Young Children in WIC
