Social capital and informational pathways towards sexual and reproductive health and rights literacy among young women in Angola: A cross-sectional study across three provinces

Abstract                                    Background                   Social capital is a recognised determinant of health, influencing access to information and formal services in context-dependent ways. In Angola, historical legacies and persistent socio-economic and gendered inequalities intersect with uneven institutional provision, shaping the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) challenges young women navigate. Where education and access to family planning and maternal health services remain limited, health-related information is central to young women’s ability to protect their health and plan their lives. Although social capital may facilitate engagement with health-related resources, less is known about how its network and trust dimensions relate to access to SRHR information.                                                     Methods                   Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 2,071 women aged 18–24 years living in Huambo, Luanda, and Lunda Sul. Analyses included province-level descriptive statistics on socio-demographic and SRHR characteristics; exploratory factor analysis of Social Capital Integrated Questionnaire indicators; correlations between social, cultural (literacy), and material (household wealth) capital; and logistic regression models assessing associations with the breadth of SRHR-related information and diversity of information sources.                                                     Results                   Marked socio-spatial variation was observed in informational, material, cultural, and social resources, with particularly low levels of cognitive social capital (interpersonal and institutional trust). Cultural and material capital were correlated across provinces and were more strongly associated with structural than cognitive social capital. More than two-thirds of participants in Luanda and Huambo reported broader SRHR-related information and more diverse sources, compared with about one-third in Lunda Sul. Information was obtained mainly through family, peers, and health professionals. Formal group involvement was associated with broader information access and more diverse sources, whereas informal network support showed more context-dependent associations. Cognitive social capital showed fewer and less consistent associations.                                                     Conclusions                   Social capital did not uniformly support access to SRHR-related information. While some forms of social connectedness were associated with broader information access, their importance was shaped by wider socio-structural conditions. Relying primarily on existing social environments or trust-building may therefore be insufficient to narrow informational inequities. Strengthening young women’s pathways to SRHR literacy may require sustained health education within gender-responsive services, alongside structural and relational efforts addressing the conditions associated with low institutional trust.