Vulnerable Populations: A Community-Oriented Perspective

This article examines the different goals and values underlying governmental, market, and communityoriented approaches to addressing the health and health care needs of vulnerable populations, the strengths and limitations of each, and how community-oriented approaches in particular offer a new set of lenses for defining and addressing these problems in a changing medical care environment. The author delineates the role of political investments and disinvestments in groups with different social status (prestige and power), social capital (social support), and human capital (productive potential) resources in influencing community well-being. Also presented is a framework for integrating these factors into social and economic, as well as public health and medical care, policy to address the vulnerability of individuals and groups to poor health.