Social Capital, Health and Health Care among Street Children: A Case Study of Street Children in Kumasi Metropolitan Area, Ghana

Abstract

The interest in the relationship between social connections and health related wellbeing of a given population has received a major boost in public health recently. This relationship either produces or prevents health risks and health problems. This paper qualitatively explores this relationship using the case of a unique group (street children) in Kumasi Metropolitan Area in Ghana. Contrary to the notion that street children are incapable of making social connections, the children demonstrated a high sense of pro-social attitude by building and maintaining social relationships which proved beneficial to their health related wellbeing. It is therefore proposed that, reaching out to the children and other vulnerable groups should strongly involve their social networks as such networks have greater influence on their health related choices and decisions. Moreover, it is suggested that, a social marketing approach should be adopted in the design and implementation of relevant policies in order to systematically and successfully influence the health related behaviour and choices of people. The paper however concludes that, social capital is a contextual concept and should be assessed and applied as such so as reduce its potential adverse effects on health related wellbeing of people.

Key words: Social capital, Street children, Health care, health related wellbeing, social marketing