Role of The Law: Enhancing The Health of Vulnerable Populations

Food is a necessity for survival for all people including women and children. In a food-rich nation like the United States, there are factors that militate against the successful access to nutritional food especially for women and children. Empirical evidence shows that one’s state of health is impacted significantly depending on the quality of nutrition that is available and accessible (Campbell, 1991.) The implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids (HHFK) Act which was introduced in 2010 has become so vital in the health of children; especially considering the fact that the obesity rate among children in the United States is gradually becoming a serious health issue (Deckelbaum et al., 2001.)The HHFK stipulated the following:  nutrition-related education as well as prevention of obesity. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 together with the HHFK together made it possible for essential additions to be made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to make funding available to state agencies who follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) and at the same time spells out exactly how to go about determining which entities are eligible for funding based on their adherence to the (DGAs).

The SNAP program which used to be known as the Food Stamp program has undergone some changes in order to make it more efficient. Previously, beneficiaries used to be issued paper coupons which can be used in stores to purchase food items that are approved under the DGAs. As of June 18 of 2009, the Farm Bill was used to phase out the paper-issuing system mainly due to the fact that they had no expiry dates. This essentially made them useful even after the new issuing system - Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) - came into effect; in this regard then, the Farm Bill helps the federal government to eliminate waste of funds from the system while making it a lot more streamlined.  

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is part of a wider system of food and nutrition assistance for low-income, vulnerable populations such as women and children (Oliveira et al., 2002.) Unfortunately, under prevailing conditions, certain foods that are generally deemed non-traditional American foods have not been considered for inclusion into the DGAs. Section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 authorized the administrators to make changes to qualifying food packages to reflect the ever changing multicultural and multiethnic American society. Additionally, assistance given to women is set to increase with a current provision still under consideration. It will give a ten dollar ($10) fruit and vegetable voucher instead of eight dollars ($8) for women who practice breastfeeding. The increment serves as an incentive for women to breastfeed more. Once again, several studies have provided strong evidence that breastfeeding helps babies build strong immune systems to fight against disease (Oddy, 2001.) Educating women and children about the necessity of proper nutrition as well as methods of obesity prevention are all steps in the right direction. An important aspect of the lives of the vulnerable population under consideration is pregnancy. Women who smoke during pregnancy are not only at higher odds of having cancer of the lungs but put the baby at risk for central nervous, gastrointestinal and visual organ complications (Law et al., 2003; Newcomb et al., 1992.) In view of the health consequences of smoking during pregnancy, it will be in the interest of the federal government to make pass laws which make it mandatory for gynecologists to spend more time with pregnant women during visits to conscientize them about the dangers involved in exposing themselves and their unborn children to tobacco smoke.  

Research shows that women who have been abused by their partners tend to be comparatively less healthy than those who are not while at the same time their children tend to require health services on average six to eight times more often than control subjects (Campbell et al., 1997.) The health consequences of intimate partner violence calls for laws at both the federal and state levels to provide protection for women while making available counseling and psychiatric services which are reasonably priced based on their income level.