White House unveils ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report with 128 directives to address childhood chronic disease

The White House on Feb. 13, 2025 released the second report from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, laying out 128 targeted directives intended to address rising rates of childhood chronic disease, officials said.

Vince Haley, director of the Domestic Policy Council, opened the event and described the report as “an exciting moment” for policymakers and parents as the commission issued “the make our children healthy again strategy.”

The report frames its work around four pillars: driving innovation through research; realigning incentives and systems; increasing public awareness and knowledge; and private-sector collaboration, officials said. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who led the commission’s work at the event, told reporters the recommendations were designed to “create systemic change to protect and promote children health.”

Why it matters: Administration officials cast the document as a whole-of-government effort to slow what they described as worsening health trends among U.S. children — including rising rates of obesity, diabetes and neurodevelopmental disorders — and to produce measurable improvements across nutrition, environmental exposures and medical care.

Key items highlighted at the release include: revised dietary guidance developed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); steps to define “ultra‑processed” food and introduce front‑of‑package labeling for sugars, sodium and ultra‑processed products; proposals to require nutrition and metabolic-health training in medical schools; regulatory and program changes intended to reduce certain additives and petroleum‑based food dyes in school products; and federal support for precision and regenerative agriculture to improve soil health and farm outcomes. Secretary Brooke Rollins of USDA described commitments by some major food companies to begin removing petroleum‑based food dyes from products served in K–12 schools this school year and announced a revised farm‑to‑school request for applications intended to expand market access for small family farms.

USDA officials said the agency has used Section 32 purchases of fresh produce and seafood to supply food banks and nutrition programs and that those purchases amount to nearly $1,000,000,000. Rollins also said 12 states had been approved to implement waivers to restrict the purchase of certain junk food and sweetened beverages under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); she encouraged additional states to seek waivers.

Regulatory and research changes were also emphasized. Dr. Marty McCary, identified at the event as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, described new FDA actions on food dyes, changes to certain “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) uses, initiatives to reduce animal testing and a pilot to shorten priority review timelines for drugs. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, identified as director of the National Institutes of Health, said the report includes research-focused steps to pursue “gold standard” science on causes of childhood chronic disease.

Officials said they would strengthen surveillance and follow-up on vaccine adverse-event reports. Secretary Kennedy said the government’s vaccine adverse-event reporting system (VAERS) has collected far fewer reports than the actual number of events, citing a CDC study from 2010 and pledged more active follow-up and research into suspected vaccine injuries so those events are studied rather than dismissed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, discussed actions to increase scientific capacity in the agency’s chemical safety and water offices and said the administration inherited a backlog of pesticide reviews; he described steps to add staff and modernize information technology to accelerate reviews. Zeldin and other officials highlighted plans to use precision agriculture tools, such as drones and targeted application technologies, to reduce unnecessary pesticide use.

The report also calls for expanded use of artificial intelligence in health research. Michael Kratios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said federal support would focus on AI models that could improve early cancer diagnosis, personalized treatment planning and real‑time monitoring, including for pediatric cancer research.

Administration structure and next steps: The report proposes consolidating prevention‑focused programs under an entity the commission described as an “Administration for Healthy America” to reduce duplication across agencies, officials said. Secretary Kennedy said the commission intends to move quickly to implement many recommendations and noted President Trump would take an immediate follow‑up action on a strategy from the report at a White House event at 4:30 p.m. that day.

Questions from reporters at the event focused on pesticides, SNAP changes, mental health, firearms and vaccine‑safety surveillance. Officials repeatedly framed their approach as “gold‑standard science” and said they sought to balance health, environmental and economic impacts in policy choices.

The MAHA Commission report is the administration’s policy document; officials at the event repeatedly described the proposals as subject to further rulemaking, state cooperation (for SNAP waivers) and interagency implementation. No formal legislation or vote was announced at the briefing.