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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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Survey of Health Professionals to Gauge Knowledge of TB & DOTS - India

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Summary

Health and Development Initiative-India conducted a rapid survey (week of August 13-17 2001) to gauge the awareness level of health professionals in the Punjab State of India about DOTS and to gain an insight into the process they follow while treating TB patients. Thirty-three randomly selected health professional drawn from different sections of service delivery were requested to provide answers to a questionnaire.


The following questions were put to the respondents (and the answers follow):


1. Have you heard of DOTS as a treatment modality for TB?

  • Yes: 67%
  • No: 33%


2. What does DOTS stand for?

  • Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse: 9%
  • Incorrect replies: 52%
  • Do not know: 39%


3. In your opinion, which is the most, appropriate tool for diagnosing Pulmonary TB (PTB)?

  • Sputum examination for AFB: 42%
  • X-Ray Chest: 34%
  • Clinical Examination: 12%
  • ESR: 8%
  • Mx test: 3%


4. In your practice what single factor determines choice of drug treatment regimen in a newly diagnosed case of PTB?

  • Economic status of the patient: 22%
  • Result of the sputum examination for AFB: 17%
  • Extent of disease: 11%
  • Severity of symptoms: 6%
  • Age: 3%
  • Nutritional status of the patient: 3%
  • Not sure: 17%
  • Misc.: 21%


5. In your opinion which is the best tool to monitor the progress of a case under treatment for PTB?

  • X-Ray Chest: 27%
  • Sputum examination for AFB: 23%
  • Improvement in general condition of the patient: 16%
  • ESR: 11%
  • Weight gain: 7%
  • Clinical judgment: 7%
  • Screening Chest: 5%
  • Rise in Hemoglobin: 2%
  • ELISA: 2%




The following conclusions have been drawn from this survey:


a. The survey suggests that the knowledge of health professionals, working in various service providing sectors is woefully inadequate as regards technical guidelines of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP)are concerned.


b. 33% respondents have not heard of DOTS as a treatment modality for treatment of Pulmonary TB.


c. Only 9% respondents know that DOTS stands for Directly Observed Treatment Short-course. 91% respondents do not even know full form of DOTS.


d. Only 42% respondents consider Sputum examination for AFB as an appropriate tool for diagnosis of PTB. 34% respondents consider X Ray examination of chest as an appropriate tool.


e. Only 17% respondents based their choice of drug treatment regimen on result of Sputum Examination for AFB. None of the respondents considered it essential to determine the HIV status of their patient before commencing treatment.


f. Only 23% respondents considered Sputum examination for AFB as best tool to monitor the progress of a case under treatment for PTB.


g. Most doctors are inclined to base their TB case management based on misbeliefs emerging out of a lack of standard sources of information.

Source

Health and Development Initiative-India website.