Healthy Communities

Healthy Communities is a model Special Olympics program ensuring year-round access to health care and prevention programming for all people with ID at the community level. Healthy Communities’ goal is to achieve improved health outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities with the ultimate goal of ensuring that all are receiving health services and are able to reach their full potential.

In 2012, SO Thailand was one of the 7 national programs selected to launch the Health Communities Project under the support of the Golisano Foundation and announced at the opening of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

SO Thailand partner the Rajanukul Institute to pilot the Healthy Communities project in 6 special education schools between 2013-15 with the additional support of UNICEF Thailand. In 2016, after the project expanded to 20 special education schools nationwide, a partnership was formed between 6 parties – Office of the Basic Education Commission, Department of Mental Health, Department of Health, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, UNICEF Thailand and Special Olympics Thailand – to implement the Healthy Communities in all provinces of Thailand, initiating in 8 provincial education centres.

Thailand is one of the 10 countries recognized as Healthy Community by Special Olympics International