US president Donald Trump and his secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, at an event organized by the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) commission, at the White House in Washington, on May 22, 2025. JIM WATSON/AFP
The world's richest country is making its children sick, knows it, and does not plan to do much about it. That is the unavoidable conclusion after reading the "MAHA strategy," Make America Healthy Again, published on Tuesday, September 9, by Robert Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services.
The entire scientific community in the United States was waiting for the 20-page document.. It was meant to respond to a damning report released in the spring by the same administration, which detailed "the stark reality of American children’s declining health." The statistics are staggering and numbers are rising: Forty percent of the 73 million children in the US (under 18) have a chronic illness (asthma, allergies, obesity, autoimmune diseases, behavioral disorders, etc.).
The incidence of cancer, diabetes, and mental illness is increasing, while life expectancy is falling. One figure sums up the problem: In the world's leading military power, only one in four young people (aged 17 to 24) is considered fit to serve in the military.
