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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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Water and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhoea in rural Afghanistan: A randomized controlled study

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Opryszko, M. C., S. W. Majeed, et al. (2010). "Water and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhoea in rural Afghanistan: A randomized controlled study." Journal of Water and Health 8(4): 687-702.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial of four interventions was conducted using tubewells (n = 2,486), liquid sodium hypochlorite ('Clorin') distributed with an improved water vessel (n = 2,305), hygiene promotion (n = 1,877), and a combination of the three (n = 2,040) to create an evidencebase for water policy in Afghanistan. A fifth group served as a control (n = 2,377). Interventions were randomized across 32 villages in Wardak province. Outcomes were measured through two household surveys separated by one year and twice-weekly household surveillance conducted over 16 months.

Results: The households receiving all three interventions showed reduction in diarrhoea compared with the control group, through both longitudinal surveillance data (IRR [95% CI] = 0.61 [0.47-0.81]) and cross-sectional survey data (AOR [95% CI] = 0.53 [0.30-0.93]). This reduction was significant when all household members were included, but did not reach significance when only children under five were considered. These results suggest multi-barrier methods are necessary where there are many opportunities for water contamination. Surveillance data suggested a greater impact of interventions on reducing diarrhoeal diseases than data from the surveys. Higher economic status as measured through household assets was associated with lower rates of diarrhoea and greater intervention uptake, excepting Clorin. Use of soap was also associated with lower prevalence of diarrhoea.