In this
section you will find background information on the Fit WIC
project, as well as the the Fit WIC Implementation Manual:
Project Background
The Surgeon General has alerted the nation to the rapidly
rising rate of childhood obesity, particularly among low-income
children of color. The predicted consequences of this epidemic,
both for our nation's health and for our economy, motivate
a strong effort to confront its causes and work toward its
prevention.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded
a childhood obesity prevention initiative called Fit WIC.
The purpose of this initiative was to examine how the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) could better respond to the issue of childhood obesity.
The USDA recognized that WIC has widespread access to the
population of young low-income children that is at greatest
risk for obesity, and that reaching very young children is
critical to any prevention strategy.
|