Instagram as a communication tool in public health: a systematic review

This systematic review mapped studies on the use of Instagram in the field of public health, with an emphasis on the performance of government entities. Twenty-six papers were selected from SCOPUS and PUBMed databases, from 13 countries. The eligibility requirements were texts in English or Portuguese, published between 2015 and 2019, in open access journals. The works pointed out Instagram as a health promotion tool with the ability to involve users, mainly for its imagery appeal. The studies classified the performance of public health entities in this network as inefficient. Establishing dialogue with citizens and action planning are good practices suggested to change this scenario. Studies on health mediation on Instagram have not been located for profiles with low connectivity level, such as the elderly and the population of developing countries. In focus is discussed visibility control of public health actors in the network by private stakeholders, using social media owners. It is concluded that the presence of governmental health actors on Instagram is necessary, due to the global growth of this social media and its use for different approaches in health.