RFK Jr.’s claim that the US has the ‘sickest children’ in world history is wrong – PolitiFact

For most of human history, about half of children died before puberty, with disease as a major contributor. 

Childhood mortality has fallen significantly in the U.S. and globally in the last century, largely because of advances in sanitation and medicine, including vaccines. 

U.S. children have a significantly higher mortality rate than children in comparable high-income countries. Children’s chronic disease rates in the U.S. have increased in recent decades…

 https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/sep/10/robert-f-kennedy-jr/children-health-history-midterm-convention/