Health transparency and communication on the government websites of ibero-american countries: The cases of chile, colombia, ecuador, and spain

Abstract

Through the strategic use of health communication from their websites, government institutions can achieve greater promotion and prevent health issues for citizens, at whom such websites are aimed. Thus, the transparency of these sites is essential to favor issues such as participation, accountability, and good governance. In the present study, through content analysis, we examined how active transparency and communication in health is built through analyzing the information provided by the different administrative levels with competencies in this field (government, regions, and municipalities) from the following countries: Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. The results were projected according to a double axis of analysis. On the one hand, we offer a description of the levels of management of this phenomenon (structural characteristics and available resources). On the other hand, we developed indices based on each of the countries to compare the typologies grouped in these Ibero-American countries. As a general conclusion, the results evinced insufficient transparency in common; however, the deficit was less in countries that had a public health system.