What prevention approaches and technologies are we using? Analysing HIV and AIDS communication campaigns in Brazil

Health campaigns have been carried out for a century in Brazil to prevent diseases, including HIV and AIDS. But what approaches and technologies are used in these actions? Our aim was to identify and discuss prevention strategies in HIV and AIDS campaigns run by the Ministry of Health between 2012 and 2022. This is a qualitative-quantitative exploratory study based on thematic content analysis and descriptive statistics. The primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary categories of prevention were discussed in the light of the relevant literature. It was observed that the campaigns use approaches and technologies from the primary (81%) and secondary (93%) levels in the pieces analysed. The tertiary and quaternary levels only appear in 8% and 32%. The campaigns mention prevention methods without explicit information about each one and mostly deal with biomedical interventions. There is positive action to encourage barrier methods and mass testing, and information gaps regarding treatment as prevention, the response to social determinants and combination prevention. The campaigns need to be evaluated and improved as a health communication strategy adopted with the aim of providing information for HIV and AIDS prevention, especially among key and priority populations.