WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children and is also called the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program. WIC is a federal program designed to provide supplemental food to low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children until the age of five. The program provides a combination of nutrition education, supplemental foods, breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals for health care. WIC has proven to be effective in preventing and improving nutrition related health problems.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds the WIC Program. The Tennessee Department of Health provides the services in about 140 county health department locations and hospital sites throughout the state. The program serves about 165,000 eligible participants each month. Participants must be residents of Tennessee, meet the gross income guidelines and be determined to be at nutritional or medical risk.Supplemental food instruments (vouchers) and cash value vouchers are issued to participants and can be used to purchase approved food items at any of the 900+ participating WIC authorized grocery stores and pharmacies.