The impact of social capital on public health and the healthcare system: a theoretical aspect

The purpose of the article is a theoretical understanding of the problem of the influence of social capital on public health and the healthcare system. The relevance is justified by the fact that social capital, formed on the basis of trusting relationships between individuals, serves as a driving force of social development, contributing to the cohesion of members of society, manifested in mutual assistance in difficult life situations. Its impact on public health consists in a regularity - the more developed the social capital, the higher the level of health. Social capital in the healthcare system is understood, on the one hand, as a set of social ties between medical workers and the population that develop in the process of providing medical care; on the other hand, as a socio-professional phenomenon that arises within a professional group of medical workers, necessary for the purposes of partnership and mutual assistance between colleagues. Social capital in the field of health can be individual and group. The first is related to the social status of an individual, which allows him using the reserve of social networks to which he has access to preserve and improve both his health and the health of loved ones; the second is determined by the group’s ability to influence the health-preserving behavior of its members.