The Make America Healthy Again Commission this week released a 20-page action plan to target the potential dietary, behavioral, medical, and environmental factors it believes are behind the childhood chronic disease crisis.
This is the second report released by the commission, which was established by President Donald Trump in February and is led by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The first report came out in May and blamed poor diets, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, chronic stress, and unnecessary medication for contributing to childhood chronic illness.
Action plan
The new action plan lays out proposals across five key areas:
Science and research
- Calls for increased federal research on chronic disease prevention, nutrition, environmental exposures, mental health, autism, the gut microbiome, and vaccine injuries.
- Promotes studies into precision agriculture and health disparities in rural and tribal communities.
Executive actions
- Proposes reforms to federal dietary guidelines, food labeling, and GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) designations.
- Seeks to raise infant formula standards, remove harmful chemicals from the food supply, and reform Medicaid quality metrics to emphasize health outcomes over procedures.
Process reform and deregulation
- Suggests streamlining organic certification, easing barriers to farm-to-school initiatives, restoring whole milk in schools, and modernizing FDA and EPA approval processes for medical and agricultural products.
Public education and awareness
- Plans to launch school-based nutrition and fitness campaigns, promote awareness around screen time, and expand mental health support.
- Aims to make reliable health and nutrition information more accessible to parents.
Private sector collaboration
- Promotes support for healthier restaurant meals, soil health, community-led wellness initiatives, and scaling innovative health solutions through public-private partnerships.
'Sweeping reform'
In an announcement, Kennedy described the strategy as a “sweeping reform agenda.”
“We are ending the corporate capture of public health, restoring transparency, and putting gold-standard science—not special interests—at the center of every decision.” he said.
However, the report does not include a timeline, cost analysis, or detailed implementation strategy for its 128 recommendations.
Areas of concern
While the report addresses a wide range of health-related issues, some experts have raised concerns about what it leaves out:
Tobaccos use: Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted in a LinkedIn post that while the report rightly focuses on chronic illness, a major driver of poor health and high health care cost, it is silent on tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. He argued that omitting tobacco prevention efforts—especially among youth—represents a major oversight.
Gun violence: The report also fails to address firearms, which are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, according to data from KFF.
In a statement, Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, acknowledged that the report makes some positive recommendations but criticized it for lacking detail and ignoring "key drivers that harm children’s health, including gun violence and environmental hazards."
When asked during a press conference about the absence of firearms policy in the report, Kennedy said the commission would support NIH research into potential contributors to gun violence, including psychiatric medications, video games, and social media, a shift from mainstream public health consensus, which identifies gun access and policy as primary factors.