Abstract
This chapter advances the discourse on migration, social capital, and health. It explores the association between social capital and health literacy in two urban slums in the city of Accra (Old Fadama and James Town). Conceptualizing social capital of migrants as resources derived from social relations that enable them to withstand stressors, we examine the relative effects of social capital on health literacy on infectious and noncommunicable diseases. Regarding resources, we focused on materiality (e.g., food, shelter, money), information for successful living, and emotional support (empathy, genuine concern, compassion). A distinction was made between resources accruing in general and resources accumulating in times of illness. A survey was used in eliciting data from a random sample of 150 individuals per slum. Methods of bivariate analyses used are Pearson correlation and analyses of variance (ANOVA). To understand the relative effects of social capital on health literacy, multiple regression was performed. We found that while increase in social capital was linked with increase in total health literacy in Old Fadama and health literacy on hypertension in James Town, increase in social capital was linked with decrease in health literacy on infectious diseases in both James Town and Old Fadama.
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Tutu, R.A., Busingye, J.D. (2020). Social Capital and Health. In: Migration, Social Capital, and Health. Global Perspectives on Health Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24693-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24693-8_8
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