With MAHA on the rise, traditional public health regroups
toggle caption EZ Event Photography/APHA
Dr. Georges Benjamin has seen many infectious disease outbreaks and bioterrorism threats in the near-25 years he's led the American Public Health Association, or APHA, a professional group representing thousands of public health workers and researchers across the country.
But the current crisis hitting the field is different: "I think public health is under attack by our own federal government more than anything else," he says.
The Trump Administration is making deep cuts to staffing and funding for the existing health system, and at the same time, the Make America Healthy Again movement is on the rise. Under the leadership of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the movement aims to upend long-held norms in the health system, which Kennedy decries as "corrupt."
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MAHA emphasizes tackling chronic diseases with a focus on individual medical choice and comes with headline grabbing, Instagram-famous leaders — and a set of solutions not based on the best available evidence, public health
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