Social capital : a key factor in child health inequalities

Accepted 1 September 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A lthough there is some research to suggest that we would all be happier and healthier if we lived in a society with narrower income differentials, 2 the obvious solution to this problem—redistributive fiscal policy—is still resisted by many Western governments. In these circumstances health policy tends to focus on ways of protecting the poor from the health damaging consequences of poverty. The possibility that local factors in communities may have a protective effect on health, providing a measure of immunity to poverty, makes social capital an important concept for paediatricians. Health for all Children 4 proposes that that social capital is not just protective against the impact of poverty, but that it may be ‘‘as important a predictor of child health ... as absolute levels of wealth or poverty’’.