‘Distracting of public attention’: Health professionals call for removal of RFK JR | Trump administration

one Grassroots organizations of health professionals release a report outlining major health challenges in the United States and calling for cancellation Robert F Kennedy Jr From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

this Report From defending public health (a new organization composed of about 3,000 health professionals and allies), attempts to misunderstand and lack information from health officials in advance.

To continue to make public health progress, the report on defending public health is scheduled to align with the expected second report “Maha again”. The first Maha report is issued In May, a second report is expected this week – but amid turmoil among health agencies, It is said that It was postponed for a few weeks.

“The Maha report is essentially a distraction to the real cause of poor health,” said Elizabeth Jacobs, a professor at the University of Arizona Emerita and a founding member of the defense public. healthy.

“This administration does not want to address poverty, education, and access to health care. Instead, they distract the public with information about solving problems that actually exist. It will collapse when your policy basis is not an evidence-based issue.”

The Defense Public Health Report is related to previous Maha, focusing on issues such as processed foods and environmental chemicals, but it covers familiar foundations in public health.

The group highlighted the importance of food safety, security and access to food, including through Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and improving opportunities for physical exercise.

They try to ensure equitable vaccination; expand access to health care, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care; and develop strategies for clean air.

The report also recommends adequate funding of scientific research and public health systems; combating scientific misinformation, including the U.S. government; and strengthening pandemic preparations. Their call for reduced gun violence is now the number one cause of child deaths.

Their final suggestion was to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr Jr, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling his removal “the most important step in improving American health.”

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), said the recommendations are exactly what the United States needs to solve. If you “look at the things that actually kill people, the ten main causes of death, that’s really the right list”.

Despite poor health outcomes, the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as the next industrialized country.

“The rupture of our health care system has undermined access to health care,” Benjamin said.

After the second, the gap is getting worse Trump administrationhuge cuts have been made to Medicaid, affordable housing and nutrition programs like Snap.

“If they take it seriously to make America healthy again, I recommend that we start with feeding the child first,” Jacobs said. “For example, when RFK Jr talks about food dyes, I don’t think it’s important to have the fact that 13 million American children don’t know where their next meal comes from.”

Jacobs said that scientific misinformation is an “existential threat” to Americans, and the U.S. government is now the “main source” of misinformation and false information.

She noted that the first Maha report “contains error information and uses references that are not even present.” There is a scream in the Defense Public Health Report that it was “created by real human experts who rely on real strict data.”

Jacobs suggested working with social media companies, “one of the biggest misinformation amplifiers”, to address the spread of harmful information. She said it is also important to educate children on how to assess the quality and accuracy of information.

But one The largest supplier Kennedy himself is a health error message.

“Everything he did was horrifying,” Jacobs said. “The saying about public health says, ‘Save a million times at a time’, and he’s the opposite.”

She calls him a “real threat” to public health.

“He has no knowledge, training or experience in any kind of science. He has never done experiments, never written papers, and he has never received any grants to learn anything. He has no idea about the root causes of poor health in the United States.”

After Trump’s re-election, defending public health was launched in November because, as Jacobs said, “It’s very clear for us that public health will be specifically attacked.”

“We know it will be an uphill battle. I don’t think anyone of us knows how bad it will be, how fast it will be. But we are doing everything we can to support our researchers, public health workers, anyone we can, and can continue to provide accurate information to the public,” Jacobs said.

The group joins other established WHOs as well as other newcomers, such as the Vaccine Integrity Project Reliable sources of information.

Benjamin said similar groups have a long history and provide an external view of official advice. But the federal government’s unique position can speak about the health of all Americans.

“Pediatricians are sure that the trust of children in vaccines is affirmed, but there is a huge debate about when children become teenagers, adults? When do they enter the adult health system?” he said.

This can cause confusion around the advice patients should follow. The same may be true for pregnant patients or people who may fall under the terms of reference of multiple health organizations. It is not always easy to know who belongs to which group.

“We have to be careful that every organization in these private sector organizations is consistent so that we don’t further confuse the public,” Benjamin said.

However, Benjamin continued: “When the federal government withdraws its responsibility to protect the public, groups like us will become more influential in filling this gap until we can once again become the federal government to join that place as trusted advisers.”

Benjamin and Jacobs, as well as other experts in these groups, hope that the federal government will once again be a source of reliable information.

“We really want to start building a framework so that we can be prepared when we have the opportunity to start making some policy recommendations,” Jacobs said.

“Now, with the public health and science related to this administration surrounding rampant chaos, we must remain firm and continue to bring the conversation back to the actual reasons why Americans are not doing well in health. I have no control over what the government will do. What we can do continue to provide accurate information to the public.”