One of the earliest initiatives launched under the newly established “Make America Healthy Again” platform — spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now Secretary of Health and Human Services — targets a growing and urgent concern: the rising tide of chronic illness among children in the United States.

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at confronting what the White House described as a “public health crisis” affecting over 30 million children in 2022 alone. The directive cites alarming statistics: one in 36 children is now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a dramatic increase from estimates of 1 in 10,000 during the 1980s. Nearly one-fifth of adolescents are living with fatty liver disease, about 30 percent are prediabetic, and more than 40 percent are overweight or obese.

According to the administration, some of these conditions may be linked to factors such as poor diet, environmental exposures, and an over-reliance on medications — including those prescribed for mental health and behavioral disorders.