A WIC Accessibility Study and "WIC-On-Wheels"

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The study entitled “WIC in your neighborhood: New evidence on the impacts of geographic access to clinics” by Maya Rossin-Slater explores the relationship between access to a WIC clinic and food benefit take-up, as well as other pregnancy-related outcomes.  The researcher decided to examine this issue because previous studies have found that not all individuals who are eligible for WIC take advantage of the benefits; she hypothesized that the reason for this is geographic proximity to a WIC office.  As stated in the article, the “results suggest that ZIP-code-level access to WIC services increases food benefit take-up by 2 to 5 percentage points, raises birth weight by 22-32 g, and increases the likelihood of breastfeeding at the time of hospital discharge by 4 percentage points for mothers with a high school degree or less”.  One important factor to keep in mind while reading this article is that the study is a look at the determinants of WIC benefit take-up rather than the actual effectiveness of WIC.  In addition, the data used in this study was collected in Texas, so the information may not apply to other areas of the country.  Even so, this study could serve as a starting point for further research into this topic.

P.S. Here’s a short article about a mobile WIC unit that serves rural areas in McAllen, Texas, attempting to improve WIC accessibility.

-Ashley

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