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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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Prescription of antibiotics for mild acute respiratory infections in children

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Ochoa, E. G., L. A. Perez, et al. (1996). "Prescription of antibiotics for mild acute respiratory infections in children." Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization 30(2): 106-117.

Objective: Acute respiratory infections (ARI), the leading class of ailments causing people to seek health care, rarely require antibiotics. Nevertheless, many physicians prescribe them needlessly. Hence, reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics is one aim of any ARI control program. To help determine whether this aim might be achieved through a combination of refresher training for family physicians and public education campaigns, two 1991 interventions were carried out in four health areas (designated A, B, C, and D) in the city of Havana, Cuba.

Methods: In each area, 10 clinics staffed by family physicians were selected through simple random sampling. In two areas (A and B), a refresher training program on ARI for health personnel was instituted at each clinic, while in areas A and C a community education program was set up. No intervention was carried out in area D. Simultaneously, from January through December 1991 trained individuals visited and administered a standard questionnaire every 15 days to 1600 families (40 per clinic) systematically selected by random sampling. The aim of this procedure was to record the number of ARl episodes occurring among children under 5 years old, the treatment chosen in these cases, and whether antibiotics were employed.

Results: The results showed that when the two interventions were initiated, antibiotics were prescribed for 26%, 20%, 11%, and 19% of the mild ARI cases occurring in areas A, B, C, and D respectively (P > 0.05). In the period immediately following the interventions, antibiotic prescription rates declined by 26% and 63% in areas A and B, while increasing by 2% and 48% in areas C and D. Overall, prescription of antibiotics in the intervention areas A and B combined decreased by 54% (95% CI: 31-69%). These data suggest that a refresher training program for health personnel can rapidly reduce the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics for ARI cases, but that public education alone does not appear effective.