The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative

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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The effects of postnatal health education for mothers on infant care and family planning practices in Nepal: A randomised controlled trial

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Bolam, A., D. S. Manandhar, et al. (1998). "The effects of postnatal health education for mothers on infant care and family planning practices in Nepal: A randomised controlled trial." British Medical Journal 316(7134): 805-811.

Objectives: To evaluate impact of postnatal health education for mothers on infant care and postnatal family planning practices in Nepal.

Design: Randomised controlled trial with community follow up at 3 and 6 months post partum by interview. Initial household survey of study areas to identify all pregnant women to facilitate follow up.

Setting: Main maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Follow up in urban Kathmandu and a periurban area southwest of the city.

Subjects: 540 mothers randomly allocated to one of four groups: health education immediately after birth and three months later (group A), at birth only (group B), at three months only (group C), or none (group D).

Interventions: Structured baseline household questionnaire; 20 minute, one to one health education at birth and three months later.

Main outcome measures: Duration of exclusive breast feeding, appropriate immunisation of infant, knowledge of oral rehydration solution and need to continue breast feeding in diarrhoea, knowledge of infant signs suggesting pneumonia, uptake of postnatal family planning.

Results: Mothers in groups A and B (received health education at birth) were slightly more likely to use contraception at six months after birth compared with mothers in groups C and D (no health education at birth) (odds ratio 1.62, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 2.5). There were no other significant differences between groups with regards to infant feeding, infant care, or immunisation.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the recommended practice of individual health education for postnatal mothers in poor communities has no impact on infant feeding, care, or immunisation, although uptake of family planning may be slightly enhanced.