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AAP News Vol. 3 No. 2 February 1987, p. 15 © 1987 American Academy of Pediatrics
1 President National Association of WIC Directors
I have some thoughts on the Academy's recently published infant formula policy statement ("The Pediatrician's Responsibility for Infant Nutrition," October 1986 AAP News.) Approximately one of every three infants born in the United States will be on the Women, Infant and Children's program for their first year of life. While it is encouraging that a responsible government provides this nutrition program, the figure also makes a grave statement about what is happening in today's society. Congress allocates funds for the WIC program to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to administer. USDA contracts with state health departments who provide the WIC program as an adjunct to health care. State WIC directors, through the prudent use of resources, are charged with serving as many as possible of the eight to ten million eligible mothers, infants and children. The national caseload this past year has remained at 3.3 million participants.
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