The final MAHA Strategy Report: Guidance for advocates

RFK, Jr.’s MAHA Commission's strategy report favors voluntary industry action—here's how advocates can fight back.

In March, the president signed Executive Order 14212, establishing the “Make America Healthy Again” (‘MAHA’) Commission. On September 9, the Commission released its final strategy report, the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, which outlines the administration’s “approach for executive actions to address the childhood chronic disease crisis through advancing research, realigning incentives, increasing public awareness, and fostering private sector collaborations.”

However, the report, based on a narrow and biased assessment of the causes of poor health and chronic disease in children, fails to provide a comprehensive and evidence-based strategy for improving children’s health. The administration's strategy relies heavily on deregulation, education initiatives, and research instead of action. Advocates should be wary of policy and research efforts that are likely to cause harm, and should hold the administration accountable for implementing the strategy’s recommended policies that have potential to improve public health.

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Report summary

Messaging guidance

Policy recommendations

What’s in the ‘MAHA’ commission’s strategy report

On Sep. 16, 2025, CSPI hosted a webinar, "The MAHA Strategy Report: What's in it and what's next?" The slides below are adapted from that presentation.

Evidence-based solutions that could actually make America healthy

CSPI has been working at the intersection of food, nutrition, and public health issues for more than 50 years and has long documented the evidence-based policies needed to make our nation healthier.

Policy menu for improving Americans’ health and well-being, with a focus on children

Communications resources

1. Chronic disease is a serious problem in the United States, especially with our children. We must pass policies to address the root causes of chronic disease and improve the safety of the food supply. A positive vision for the future and evidence-based solutions are imperative for this (see CSPI’s policy menu [LINK]).

2. The ‘MAHA’ Commission’s plan will not solve these problems. The final “MAHA” recommendations are sparse on details, but prioritize industry deregulation and consumer education over new public health safeguards.

History has shown us that asking corporations to voluntarily change their practices usually does not work without a mechanism to hold them accountable. The “MAHA” recommendations include a number of weak actions, like potential guidance on food marketing, but fail to commit to holding industry accountable.
Encouraging education on food, nutrition, and physical activity will have a limited impact on children’s diet quality and activity patterns in the absence of accompanying structural change. Public statements in support of health, if not backed up by policy change, will fail to address the systemic problems in our food environment that prevent people from eating a healthy diet and getting adequate exercise.

3. Deregulation is not the answer to a healthier America—corporations need to be held accountable via regulation, not handshakes. This administration is doing everything it can to cut the federal workforce and cater to big business/corporate interests. “MAHA” talks a lot about Big Ag, Big Food, and Big Pharma profiting from Americans being unhealthy. Improving Americans’ health and well-being depends on corporate accountability, including mandatory standards and transparency. Voluntary action is insufficient. As a result, many “MAHA” supporters, particularly those interested in reforming the food environment, are disappointed in the strategy report.

4. The disconnect between what ‘MAHA’ and this administration say and what they actually do is stark. Thus far, the net impact of this administration on public health has been negative. The administration has purged the FDA, USDA, and CDC of tens of thousands of skilled employees charged with keeping our food supply accessible, nutritious, and safe. Environmental regulations are being curtailed or eliminated. The administration has dismissed vaccine experts over fabricated conflicts of interest while placing individuals with extensive financial ties to regulated industry in key positions of power within food and health agencies. They have promoted anti-vaccine misinformation that is poised to cause serious harm to children, and have passed legislation ripping SNAP and Medicaid from millions of people, pushing both healthy food and healthcare out of reach. See more examples here.

5. Our health depends on the integrity of public institutions. This administration and “MAHA” consistently talk about the lack of public trust in institutions and use it as an excuse to cut critical programs, fire public servants, and rescind federal funding that helps communities, weakening the institutions we depend on for our health. This rhetoric is just an excuse for more cuts, and should not be taken seriously as fact.

6. ‘MAHA’s focus on chronic disease ignores the growing spread of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases among children. “MAHA” is taking aim at the US vaccine framework, undermining vaccine safety, and replacing experts in our public health institutions with individuals who have anti-vaccine biases. This will harm children.

7. Provide an action plan for how we’ll actually solve the problem. See CSPI’s recommendations in our policy menu for improving Americans’ health and well-being [LINK].