The second keynote address was by Prof Fran Baum, Head of Department and Professor of Public Health at Flinders University. Her address was on social capital and health. She defined social capital in terms of social and civic trust, networks and co-operation. She pointed out that social capital is not always beneficial - for example, closed networks can be good for those in them, but can be exclusionary of others. She referred to research which showed that social capital defined as trust in local people is higher in rural areas than in cities, but the reverse applies to trust in strangers.
Social capital is important to health in that positive social support can aid recovery from illness.
She pointed to international evidence that health outcomes are correlated with social equity, implying that income and wealth distribution is a public health issue, challenging the dominance of economic rationalism in policy-making. She concluded by linking social capital with community-based approaches to health promotion. She noted that equalising access to health services, at quality, between rural and metropolitan Australians is a gigantic and complex task, much bigger, for example, than the Snowy scheme. Her address concentrated on the twin themes of the necessity for co-operation and collaboration in achieving this aim, and the critical importance of local communities.