Objective: To identify health promoting contents (information that can be transformed into decision-making resources to improve quality of life and the health of individuals or groups) in Facebook postings by the ministries of health in Brazil and Peru.
Methods: This case study compared the messages published in Facebook by the ministries of health from Brazil and Peru during World AIDS Day. Content analysis was employed to identify health promoting contents in the messages posted between November 2013 and February 2014.
Results: A total of 105 messages were published on the topic of interest (37 from Peru and 68 from Brazil). In both cases, most messages focused on individuals, addressing the change or adoption of personal behaviors relating to the prevention and detection of HIV - 34 messages (50.0%) for Brazil and 17 (45.9%) for Peru. Twenty-one (30.9%) messages with a structural emphasis were published by Brazil and 14 (37.8%) by Peru, addressing the context of health care system organization, including HIV/ AIDS health policies, available services, access to HIV testing and initiatives to promote testing. Hybrid messages, including both emphases, were less frequent: 13 (19.1%) for Brazil and six (16.2%) for Peru.
Conclusions: Health promoting contents were identified in hybrid messages, which provided resources to expand the understanding of individuals about the susceptibility to AIDS.