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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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Diarrhea prevention through food safety education

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Sheth, M. and M. Obrah (2004). "Diarrhea prevention through food safety education." Indian Journal of Pediatrics 71(10): 879-882.

Objective: Food safety education (FSE) was imparted in order to reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in children and improving the knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers regarding safe feeding practices.

Methods: The study was conducted on mothers (n=200) of underprivileged children (6-24 months) through Anganwadi workers (AWW). The food safety education package incorporated three messages: washing hands with soap and water, avoid feeding leftover food and keep surrounding clean. These were imparted using lectures, slogans, posters, charts, flash cards, role-play. Calendars and leaflets were also handed over to the mothers as education material. After food safety education intervention, the households were studied again as at the baseline, on various aspects.

Result: There was 52% reduction in the incidence of diarrhea. The environmental sanitation and personal hygiene scores of most of the households and mothers improved. Improvement in the practice of hand-washing and avoidance of feeding leftovers to children was seen. There was reduction in the microbial load in the hand rinse samples of both mothers and children.

Conclusion: AWW proved to be effective change agents and FSE was successful in bringing about a positive behavior modification in mothers.