The MAHA Report

Ava Cai

May 23, 2025

On May 22, the White House released a report titled “The MAHA Report: Make our Children Healthy Again” that addressed the root causes and solutions to the childhood chronic disease crisis. This report was headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and established by an executive order announced on February 13 by President Trump. It identified four primary contributors to this problem: poor diet, environmental chemicals, physical inactivity and chronic stress, and overmedicalization. The MAHA report also advocated for more rigorous research regarding the current childhood vaccine schedule as well as larger clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy. In addition, the paper criticizes the influence that pharmaceutical and agricultural industries play on public health policies and emphasizes the urgency for systemic reforms. Following its release to the public, President Trump asked the MAHA Commission to develop a comprehensive federal response strategy within the next 80 days to address these issues. 

This response strategy proposes the concern that diet, daily habits, and contact with environmental toxins negatively impact children’s health. Dr. James Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, says, “Many of us have been calling for some attention to these issues for decades now.” He also emphasizes the problem’s significance in the United States, as “it’s not one that we’re seeing quite so dramatically in other countries.” Although the diagnosis from the report is praised, the execution of the treatment plan is a concern due to its potential holes, as pointed out by Dr. Philip Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston College. For example, socioeconomic influences are left unconsidered, and such influences as poverty are strong deciding factors in chronic disease. 

Moreover, the report encourages research and public health activity, which stands in stark contrast to several recent advancements by the Trump administration. For example, it raises the danger that toxic exposure to chemicals poses to children—a danger Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, believes must receive more prominence now. The administration is reducing staffing at major agencies and shutting down an Environmental Protection Agency office that handles chemical toxicity. The Department of Health and Human Services has also been ordered to fire thousands of its workers and reduce billions of dollars worth of funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Health, all crucial in supporting the research highlighted in the report. 

While the MAHA report brings attention to a pressing health crisis, comprehensive social policies are yet to be developed to tackle the rise in chronic diseases in children effectively.