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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. 

Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future. 

On the transfer, co-founder Victoria Martin expressed her pleasure to see this work continue under Wits' leadership, knowing that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction. 

As Wits, we honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades and look forward building from that strong base. This includes co-founders Warren Feek (1953-2024) and Victoria Martin as well as La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA), which continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com with links to The CI Global site. We are also eager to forge new partnerships and entertain new ideas as we consider how best to contribute to social and behaviour change in our rapidly evolving environment.

If you are joining the International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, please join Wits and CILA on Monday, 22 June, to share your thoughts and suggestion for the relaunch of the Communication Initiative. We will be in Pacifica 5 from 12-1:25 for the Refuel, Reflect, and Renew Lunch Series: The Communication Initiative: celebrating a driving force for Communication for Social Change and the way forward. We will reflect on the legacy of Warren Feek and family in creating the Communication Initiative, consider the contributions of CI over the years and then turn our attention towards the future in this dynamic session. 

If you are unable to join us in Panama, we still want to hear from you. Please contribute your thoughts by following this link: https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026 or reaching out to ci_surveys@commint.com. 

You can also follow the QR Code:

 https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026

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Acute respiratory infections in children: A case management intervention in Abbottabad District, Pakistan

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Khan, A. J., J. A. Khan, et al. (1990). "Acute respiratory infections in children: A case management intervention in Abbottabad District, Pakistan." Bulletin of the World Health Organization 68(5): 577-585.

Background: Between 1985 and 1987, a community-based case-management programme for acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) was conducted in a rural district of northern Pakistan. The impact on infant and child mortality of this programme, which included active case-finding and maternal health education, was evaluated.

Methods: In 1985-86, the ALRI-specific mortality rate among children < 5 years old in 31 intervention villages was 6.3 deaths per 1000 children per year, compared with 14.4 in seven control villages (P = 0.0001).

Results: Within one year of the interventions being extended to the control villages in 1987, the ALRI-specific mortality rate in these villages dropped by 55% to 6.5 per 1000 children per year (P = 0.06). The total child mortality rate in 1985-86 was 29.0 per 1000 children per year in the intervention villages and 39.4 per 1000 children in the control villages, a difference of 26% (P = 0.01). With the interventions in 1987, the total child mortality rate in the control villages declined by 29% to 27.8 per 1000 children per year (P = 0.09). Similar intervention-associated declines in the infant mortality rate were also observed.

Conclusion: Case management of acute respiratory infection by village-level community health workers backed up by local health centre staff appeared to significantly reduce both ALRI-specific and total infant and child mortality rates in this setting.