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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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Insecticide-treated materials for malaria control in Latin America: to use or not to use?

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Kroeger, A., M. Gonzalez, et al. (1999). "Insecticide-treated materials for malaria control in Latin America: to use or not to use?" Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 93(6): 565-570.

Objective: Studies on the protective efficacy of insecticide-treated materials (ITMs) in Plasmodium vivax endemic areas of Latin America have not yielded sufficient evidence for recommendation of their extensive use in the region. Therefore 2 randomized community trials have been conducted on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua which analysed the minimum coverage of ITMs needed to be effective against malaria.

Methods: For the characterization of the study area, epidemiological and entomological baseline surveys and household interview surveys were undertaken. Thereafter the communities were paired (6 pairs in the 1st year and 13 pairs in the 2nd year) according to 4-monthly reported malaria incidence rates, population size and bednet coverage, and then randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. In the intervention groups, bednets were impregnated with lambdacyhalothrin; in the control groups, people received general health education. Anopheles albimanus was found to be the main vector with marked indoor biting behaviour late in the evening. P. vivax (99%) clearly outweighed P. falciparum (1%) with low parasite prevalence rates in the asymptomatic general population (8%) and low parasite densities.

Results: The protective efficacy of ITMs varied according to the coverage achieved: protective efficacy was 68% in communities with an average ITM coverage of 50% (10 pairs); 31% in communities with an ITM coverage of 16-30% (4 pairs); and no protective efficacy in communities with ITM coverage below 16% (5 pairs). The comparison with other P. vivax endemic areas in Latin America showed that the vector's late biting behaviour and the indoor preference (where ITMs have a repellent effect) probably led to the favourable results in the study. In malaria endemic areas of Latin America, where P. vivax is predominant, studies on vector behaviour should be conducted in order to predict the impact of ITMs on malaria transmission.