Make America Healthy Again

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is an American populist slogan and political movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who serves as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration. The slogan, echoing the "Make America Great Again" phrase popularized by Donald Trump and his ideology, reflects a focus on public health issues. MAHA gained broader attention following the suspension of Kennedy's independent presidential campaign in August 2024 and his subsequent endorsement of Trump.

According to its proponents, MAHA's primary beliefs are that there is a chronic illness epidemic in the United States, advocating for what they believe are healthier lifestyle choices (including drinking raw milk, taking dietary supplements, and adopting various fad diets), suggesting that autism is caused by environmental effects (especially vaccines) and therefore need to be cured through detoxification, and contending that corruption in the food and pharmaceutical industries is a major source of health problems.

In February 2025, President Trump established the MAHA Commission, chaired by Kennedy, to study psychiatric and anti-obesity medication, childhood diseases, and mental disorders. Its May 2025 MAHA Assessment cited poor diet, environmental chemicals, lack of exercise, stress, and overmedicalization as major child health concerns, while questioning vaccines, water fluoridation, and other public health measures. The assessment was criticized for containing fabricated sources. The Department of Health & Human Services released the "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy" in September 2025, proposing food regulation, SNAP restrictions on processed foods, removal of artificial dyes, scrutiny of pesticides, and drawing attention for omitting leading causes of childhood death and promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines, Wi-Fi, and 5G.

MAHA has received mixed support and criticism. Some proposals, particularly regarding food and pharmaceutical regulation, received limited bipartisan backing. A January 2025 survey indicated that 30% of Americans supported and 42% opposed the movement, with higher support among conservatives. Scientists, medical professionals, and public health officials have criticized MAHA for promoting misinformation, misrepresenting scientific studies, and aligning with anti-vaccine activism. Its policies and proposals have been described as anti-science, and several of its backers within and connected to the Trump administration have profited financially from products promoted by the movement. By late 2025, increasing measles and vaccine-preventable outbreaks were tied to anti-vaccine rhetoric spread by MAHA, leading to drops of public support for the movement.

President Trump established the MAHA Commission by Executive Order 14212^[ws] on February 13, 2025. The commission is chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and includes other Trump officials, including secretary of education Linda McMahon and director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought. Vince Haley, director of the United States Domestic Policy Council, is executive director. The order directed the commission to examine the "prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs" within 100 days. The commission was also tasked with researching childhood diseases and mental disorders, including autism. A few days after the announcement of the Executive Order, Kennedy stated that he would use the commission to critically assess childhood vaccine schedules and psychiatric medicines. Kennedy privately convened the committee's inaugural meeting in mid-March.

The commission released the MAHA Assessment report on May 22, 2025. It addresses what the commission sees as the four main causes of health problems in children: poor diet, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity and stress, and overmedicalization. According to The New York Times, Nancy Beck, the principal deputy assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency overseeing the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, pushed to restrain mentions of pesticides in the commission's report. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kennedy's criticisms of pesticides drew ire from some Trump officials. Analysis of the MAHA Assessment report revealed multiple references to non-existent studies and authors, suggestive of the use of artificial intelligence, as well as mischaracterizations of the conclusions of real sources.

The Department of Health & Human Services announced the release of the "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy" report on September 9, 2025. The Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy is another part of EO 14212. The strategy document lists specific actions to implement findings of the MAHA report released in May 2025. A preliminary draft of "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy" did not mention the leading causes of childhood death, those being firearms and motor vehicle accidents, and was described by Ars Technica as "echoing long-held conspiracy theories and misinformation about Wi-Fi and 5G". It also continued to cast doubt on the safety of water fluoridation and childhood vaccines.

Water fluoridation, the controlled addition of fluoride to public water supplies to reduce tooth decay, is one of the concerns of the MAHA movement. The public health practice reduces cavities in children and has been praised by dentists and public health experts. The World Health Organization, FDI World Dental Federation, American Dental Association (ADA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that water fluoridation is safe and effective; it is regarded as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century by the CDC. A majority of dental experts, including the ADA and CDC, disagree with Kennedy's views on water fluoridation.