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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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Home-based management of fever and malaria treatment practices in Uganda

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Nsungwa-Sabiiti, J., S. Peterson, et al. (2007). "Home-based management of fever and malaria treatment practices in Uganda." Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 101(12): 1199-1207.

Methods: The Home-Based Management of Fever/Malaria (HBMF) strategy in rural Uganda was evaluated in a quasi-experimental study. The intervention consisted of volunteers educating mothers and providing a 3-day course of pre-packaged chloroquine plus sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine tablets (HOMAPAK), free of charge, for the treatment of under-five fevers. Using a structured questionnaire, information was obtained on care-seeking and treatment practices before (n=498) and 18 months after the introduction of HBMF (n=587).

Results: Assessment of the intervention effect indicated 13.5% improvement in the accumulated proportion of patients (1) treated, (2) treated within 24h of illness onset, (3) treated with the recommended antimalarials, (4) treated at an adequate dosage and (5) treated for the correct duration. Combining this with the antimalarial drug efficacy resulted in a 10.4% improvement in the community effectiveness of malaria treatment. HOMAPAK use was reported in 25% of 156 febrile children; 23% in the most poor compared with 50% in the least poor. Using HOMAPAK instead of other allopathic antimalarials increased the likelihood of completing all steps (odds ratio 37, 95% CI 4.8-286).

Conclusions: Similar to other large-scale public health interventions, this study demonstrates modest practice changes at the population level. However, practices improved markedly among HOMAPAK users, suggesting that intensifying implementation efforts to increase HOMAPAK use, especially among the poorest, would be beneficial.