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

Time to read
1 minute
Print
a- a+
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 2 years ago
Read so far

Misinformation Exposure and Misinformation Impacts - Vaccine Intention down 6.2%-6.4%

1 comment
Strategy researched
 
The causal impact of exposure to online pieces of misinformation relating to COVID-19 and vaccines on the intent to accept a COVID-19 vaccine
 
Impact achieved
 
 
Countries of study
 
United Kingdom and United States
 
Research methodology
 
Pre- post-exposure study design with 8,001 respondents
 
Journal
 
Nature; 2021
 
Journal paper title and link
 
Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA
 
Excerpt from Abstract
 
"[I]n both countries—as of September 2020—fewer people would ‘definitely’ take a vaccine than is likely required for herd immunity, and that, relative to factual information, recent misinformation induced a decline in intent of 6.2 percentage points (95th percentile interval 3.9 to 8.5) in the UK and 6.4 percentage points (95th percentile interval 4.0 to 8.8) in the USA among those who stated that they would definitely accept a vaccine."
 
Translation - see line 14
 
Summary at this link

 

Comments

User Image
Submitted by Ben Duncan (not verified) on Mon, 07/17/2023 - 07:39 Permalink

This card highlights a significant public health CHALLENGE - the "infodemic" of mis and disinformation around COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. This puts it out of line with other cards which are presenting SOLUTIONS - i.e. successful SBC or C4D interventions. At first glance it can seem that you are identifying vaccine misinformation as a useful intervention.... Maybe this should be the Joker in the pack of cards to show its a bit different ?