The deputy director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health says self-esteem is vital to the wellbeing of the Northern Territory's indigenous communities.

Teri Dunbar says the latest in a series of workshops on inequality and health held in Darwin attracted speakers including Fran Baum of Flinders University who spoke on the subject of social capital.

Ms Dunbar, an indigenous Australian, says she believes individual self-worth is a crucial gauge of community health.

"If we actually want to use social capital as an indicator for improving the wellness of a community then seriously you have to look at some very fundamental things on Maslow's hierarchy of needs and that is to have true valuing of oneself within the society in which they exist," Ms Dunbar said.