National Goals for Promoting Health for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face an uphill battle in optimizing their health. Although there are many positive clinical and public health interventions to promote the health of this population, significant gaps remain. The Health Promotion strand from the National Goals Conference 2024 identified areas of emphasis at four different levels using the Social Ecological Model of Health: Individual, Interpersonal, Community, and Policy. Emphases include greater training of individuals with IDD, caregivers, and health care providers to address specific health needs; stabilizing funding to increase social connection and health insurance coverage; improving community infrastructure designs for better access; expand population data collection to include IDD identifiers; and incorporate the intersectionality of this population in all health promotion efforts.