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 World of e-Patients: A Content Analysis of Online Social Networks Focusing on Diseases

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Author

Affiliation

University of Brescia (Orizio, Gasparotti, Caimi, Gelatti); Institute of Communication and Health, University of Lugano (Schulz

Date
Summary

Published in Telemedicine and e-Health (Volume 16; Issue 10; pages 1060-1066), this article analyses the existing online social networks dedicated to health issues. Performed in September and October 2009, this study involved analysing a sample of health social networks for patients, selected using 4 common search engines. A codebook was elaborated to investigate the following areas: general information; technical characteristics and utilities; and characteristics of the website and its contents, both general and related to the online community.

The search led to a sample of 41 social networks. Selected results include:

  • Twenty-three websites (56.1%) were dedicated to several diseases, the others to one only.
  • Although the majority of the sample (87.8%) provided a way to contact the website, only 5 (12.2%) showed the name of the author or operating organisation.
  • Eight websites (19.5%) indicated one or more sponsors, and 9 (22.0%) named one or more partners. "It was often hard to tell whether an institution mentioned was a sponsor or a partner."
  • Five websites (12.2%) enabled users to buy health-related products online.
  • Twelve websites (29.3%) offered users the chance to search for doctors, and 12 (29.3%) gave therapeutic information.
  • Two websites (4.9%) published aggregate statistical data about the patients registered with the social network.

The authors conclude that "[t]he data reveal the high heterogeneity of health-related social networks and raise interesting considerations on such controversial topics as the quality of online health information, research perspectives, interactivity, and empowerment. In particular, our findings are relevant to criticism regarding the openness and transparency of these Web sites, the use of personal data, and privacy issues."

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Source

eHealth Intelligence Report, November 16 2010.