Transparent Communication and Public Health: Evaluating Digital Health Portals in Ten Latin American Governments

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_48How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Fiscal transparency; institutional communication; public health; digital portals; Latin America; open data; digital government

Abstract

Transparent communication of public information in the health sector is essential for democratic governance, as it fosters citizen oversight, institutional accountability, and the realization of the right to health. Recent advancements in the digital government sector in Latin America have precipitated the establishment of institutional portals intended for the disclosure of public health expenditures. This study provides a comparative assessment of the communicative transparency of official digital health platforms in ten countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. A comprehensive evaluation of portals was conducted using a multifaceted approach encompassing qualitative, documentary design and content analysis. This evaluation encompassed eight distinct dimensions, including information clarity, accessibility, financial disclosure, expenditure disaggregation, usability, data timeliness, open formats, and good practices. The results of the study indicate significant disparities in platform performance. Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay are particularly noteworthy in their integration of user-centered design, interactive visualization tools, and strategies that enhance the accessibility of complex budgetary data. Conversely, Ecuador and Paraguay exhibit critical deficiencies in content availability, update frequency, and usability. These findings demonstrate that technological infrastructure alone is insufficient for achieving effective digital transparency. In order to achieve this, robust legal frameworks, institutional coordination, and political will are required. The study’s findings are articulated through strategic recommendations, which include the standardization of data formats, capacity building for public officials, the promotion of regional cooperation, and the implementation of citizen feedback mechanisms. The implementation of these recommendations is posited to enhance the quality and responsiveness of health portals.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Noé Emmanuel Del-Real-Garcia
AU  - María Eugenia Reyes-Pedraza
AU  - María Delia Tellez-Castilla
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/10/22
TI  - Transparent Communication and Public Health: Evaluating Digital Health Portals in Ten Latin American Governments
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2025 (ICOMTA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 522
EP  - 533
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_48
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-868-4_48
ID  - Del-Real-Garcia2025
ER  -