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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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Breastfeeding preterm infants: an educational program to support mothers of preterm infants in Cairo, Egypt

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Ahmed, A. H. (2008). "Breastfeeding preterm infants: an educational program to support mothers of preterm infants in Cairo, Egypt." Pediatr Nurs 34(2): 125-130, 138.

PURPOSE: To develop, implement, and examine the effect of a breastfeeding educational program on breastfeeding knowledge and practices of Egyptian mothers of preterm infants.

METHODS: An experimental design was used with a convenience sample of 60 mothers and their preterm infants who were born before 37 weeks of gestation. They were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Data collection instruments included breastfeeding knowledge questionnaire, observational checklist of mother's breastfeeding practices, breastfeeding diary, infant's and mother's profile form, and demographic information. A five-session breastfeeding educational program based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory was implemented with the intervention group during the infant's hospitalization and after discharge. Both groups were followed up to 3 months after discharge. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Chi-square, and regression were used to analyze the data.

FINDINGS: Mother's knowledge significantly increased for the intervention group but not the control group (p = 0.041). The intervention group showed gradual improvement in breastfeeding practices, i.e., started breast milk expression earlier and had more breast milk expression frequency than the control group. Of the intervention group, 80% were discharged on exclusive breastfeeding compared to 40% among the control group, and breastfeeding problems were less among the intervention group.

CONCLUSIONS: The breastfeeding educational program was effective in improving breastfeeding knowledge and practices among mothers of preterm infants.