La diabetes en la publicidad oficial para televisión mexicana: problemas y límites para la comunicación en salud

Abstract

Theoretically, health communication should aims to improve health, especially if it comes to messages that produce health institutions and is publicly funded. This paper presents results of a content analysis about the subject "diabetes" in government health advertising in Mexican broadcast television in 2011. Although diabetes has declared a major national health problem in Mexico, the results show that the topic "diabetes" was virtually nonexistent in government advertising of the period. Additionally, other problems limit the potencial of government health advertising as a health communication strategy: first, messages are focused on blaming individuals for their health problems and hide topics as a social determinations and the role of health services, which limits social appropriation of knowledge about diabetes. Secondly, a significant proportion of the messages are institutional image strategies or have electoral purposes, without providing health information or recommendations. In conclusion, there are contradictions between the goals set in public policies about diabetes and government advertising as a health communication practice. We need to define what should be the functions and characteristics of health communication in Mexico.