MAHA commission releases strategy to tackle childhood chronic disease

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission on Tuesday released the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a national plan featuring more than 120 initiatives aimed at reversing decades of failed policies that officials say have fueled the country’s childhood chronic disease epidemic.

Chaired by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the MAHA Commission was created to investigate and address the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with a special focus on children.

The plan lays out targeted executive actions to advance “gold-standard science,” realign incentives across government and industry, increase public awareness, and strengthen collaboration with the private sector.

“The Trump Administration is mobilizing every part of government to confront the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said at the press event. “This strategy represents the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history—realigning our food and health systems, driving education, and unleashing science to protect America’s children and families.”

The strategy touches nearly every sector of public health, agriculture, education, and environmental policy. Among its highlights:

• Restoring Science & Research: Expanded NIH-led studies into nutrition, metabolic health, environmental exposures, vaccine injury, autism, and the gut microbiome.
• Executive Actions: New dietary guidelines, tighter food labeling standards, reform of Medicaid quality metrics, stricter oversight of drug advertising, and higher standards for infant formula.
• Process Reform & Deregulation: Easier access to farm-to-school programs, restoring whole milk in schools, streamlining organic certification, and faster approval of innovative agricultural products.
• Public Awareness & Education: National school-based nutrition campaigns, a Surgeon General initiative on screen time, and expanded pediatric mental health programs.
• Private Sector Collaboration: Voluntary industry commitments to remove artificial dyes, promote healthier meals, and scale regenerative farming practices.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins emphasized the role of farmers and ranchers in the effort. “America’s farmers and ranchers are at the heart of the solution — alongside doctors, parents, and communities — to fight chronic disease and protect future generations,” Rollins said.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin tied the effort to broader environmental stewardship, while FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya called the strategy a pivot from reactive care toward prevention and long-term health outcomes for children.

The Commission framed the plan as the most ambitious national effort yet to combat childhood chronic disease, promising to restore transparency, curb corporate influence, and put children’s health at the center of federal policy.

Tuesday’s announcement featured top administration officials including Kennedy, Rollins, Zeldin, Makary, Bhattacharya, and White House economic and science advisors.