Social capital and its links to health

Notions of participation and promotion of civic life in policy development and implementation have stimulated debate among academics, policy makers, and practitioners about the potential contribution of social capital in reducing health inequalities. The evidence base on the links between social capital and health has grown exponentially over the past 10-15years. A range of issues have emerged in the literature since social capital arrived on the health scene in the mid- to late 1990s, including how best to define and measure it, the relevance and meaning of the concept to different population groups and debates about its relative importance to health compared to other determinants. Although consensus has not been reached on all of these issues, it is clear that social capital can help policy makers develop community-based projects as part of their quest to achieve reductions in the unequal distribution of disease burden in societies. In essence, while there is much more work to be done to improve the concept, its overall purpose and potential cannot be denied.