The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that pediatricians increase access to food nutrition programs for families experiencing food insecurity.
The adverse effects of food insecurity on young children oftentimes cannot be reversed. As the children grow they are at greater risk of poor health, developmental and social emotional delays to name just a few.
The nutrition assistance programs the AAP recommends increasing access to are the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
While the need of young children to have access to all of these programs are tantamount, SNAP, which has long been advocated for as an essential piece of the federal supplemental nutrition assistance programs. Some access was expanded during COVID-19 relief packages but the long term sustainability for access to the families that need it now and will need it in the future is not supported.
Learn more about this: SNAP is Medicine for Food Insecurity, by Deborah A. Frank, MD, FAAP, Charlotte Bruce, MPH, and Eduardo Ochoa, MD, FAAP, Accessed on September 1, 2020
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