(Page 4 of 5)

Not only do women, infants and children have special dietary needs, but they also face unique and serious health conditions if their nutritional needs go unmet. Poor nutrition during pregnancy leads to health complications for both mother and baby, including anemia, increased risk of fetal mortality, and lower birth rate. During nursing, inadequate calcium intake can make mothers' bones brittle, and potentially cause underdeveloped bones and even rickets in the baby. In young children, poor nutrition can lead to stunted growth, diminished cognitive abilities, and retarded mental development. It also weakens their immune systems, so that they tend to get sick more often, stay sick longer, and miss more school than their well-nourished classmates.

"Nutrition is so important," DC Mayor Anthony Williams said in 2006 at a meeting of the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger. He added that children need food that helps their mental and physical development so that "they can emerge, inspire and have ambition."

But children, and members of households that have children, are much more likely to suffer from hunger. Of the 68,000 individuals who were food insecure or hungry in 2006, 35,000 were children. The 2006 DC Hunger Solutions report found that households with children were more than twice as likely to be food insecure or hungry as households without.

To address this problem, programs exist that specifically target women's and children's needs for affordable and nutritious food. First, the Federal Research and Action Center provides federally subsidized school breakfasts and lunches to children. "The food helps keep hunger at bay so that children are engaged and ready to learn," says the program?s mission statement. Recognizing that growing children will probably want some sustenance between meals as well, another nonprofit organization called DC Action for Healthy Kids works to bring children healthy snacking options. In 2005, it successfully lobbied the DC school board to pass a Healthy Vending Policy, which limits unhealthy beverages and snacks sold in vending machines in DC public schools.

Finally, the Summer Meals Program gives children free, nutritious meals and snacks from sites located throughout the district during the summer months. In 2006, the District reached almost 28,000 children daily through this program? a higher participation rate than any of the 50 states. Together, these programs work to ensure that children get adequate, nutritious food throughout the school day as well as during vacations.

However, these programs do not reach infants, children too young to be in school, and their mothers?perhaps the people in the most dire need of good nutrition. One federal program called Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a project of the Food and Nutrition Service within the US Department of Agriculture, provides free food packages for pregnant and nursing women, their infants, and their children up to age 5. These packages include foods high in protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C, which are most frequently lacking in the diets of pregnant and nursing women. They may also include iron-fortified infant formula, one of the most difficult foods to find in community food insecure areas. In August of 2006, the food package was reconstituted to include soy milk, tofu, and whole grains. Fresh fruits and vegetables are hard to include in prepackaged meals, but a WIC-related initiative, the Farmer's Market Nutrition Program, issues coupons to WIC participants so they can get free fresh produce from farmers' markets in Maryland and DC.