About the Nutrition Services Branch
Activities of the Nutrition Services Branch promote sound nutrition habits among infants, children and women in their child-bearing years. Branch staff work with county, state and private agencies to improve health status by reducing the incidence of nutritional risk factors, improving pregnancy outcomes, and hastening recovery from illness and injury through the provision of technical assistance, education and supplemental foods.
The Branch has four units:
The Information Systems Unit manages all software changes to the WIC/HSIS and NCCares applications and provides oversight to the security of the data. The NSB Helpdesk provides user support for connecting to and using these applications.
The Public Health Nutrition Unit is primarily responsible for developing program policy, procedures, and implementation guidance related to participant and clinical services of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); leading efforts to promote, protect and support breastfeeding; supporting quality assurance of nutrition programs through policy, monitoring, evaluation and data analysis; coordinating programmatic and nutrition training for local health agency staff, school personnel and staff of public and private entities; and developing nutrition education tools that promote breastfeeding, healthful eating and physical activity in women, children, youth and families. In addition, the Unit provides consultation and technical assistance to local health agencies, public schools and other public and private community agencies; manages the Pregnancy Nutrition, Pediatric Nutrition, and Physical Activity and Nutrition (PAN) Surveillance Systems and; supports other surveillance and evaluation efforts.
The Special Nutrition Programs Unit administers the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program for Children (SFSP). As the administering agency, this unit provides training, technical assistance, monitoring, interpretation of federal regulations, and audits. This assistance helps institutions operate effective CACFPs and SFSPs.
The Vendor Unit administers all aspects of the Vendor component of the WIC Program including vendor contracting, training, and surveillance. The WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is also administered by this Unit. |
