Soul Beat Africa
African development action with informed and engaged societies
Soul Beat Africa
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.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Community Mobilisation - 19.8% vs. 14.3% Virally Suppressed

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Strategy researched

Engaging in community mobilisation activities, harnessing networks for message dissemination, and forging organised community action

Impact achieved

As compared with men in the control villages, men in the intervention villages were more likely to know their status (44.9% vs 36.9%), be on antiretroviral therapy, or ART (26.1% vs 20.4%), and be virally suppressed (19.8% vs 14.3%). Similar differences were observed between intervention and control village women. In absolute terms, these proportions translate into 200 more residents who are virally suppressed in the intervention communities versus control communities, which could lead to stark differences in rates of new infections.

Country of study

South Africa

Research methodology

Cluster RCT with 8 intervention communities (n=20,544 residents) and 7 control communities (n=17,848)

Journal

The Lancet HIV; 2022

Journal paper title and link

A community mobilisation intervention to improve engagement in HIV testing, linkage to care, and retention in care in South Africa: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Excerpt from Abstract

"Among women, HIV testing increased quarterly by 10·6% (RC 1·106, 95% CI 1·097 to 1·114, p<0·0001) in the intervention communities and 9·3% (1·093, 1·084 to 1·102, p=0·053) in the control communities; increases were greater in intervention communities (exponentiated interaction coefficient 1·012, 95% CI 1·001 to 1·023, p=0·043). Quarterly linkage increased significantly among women in the intervention communities (RC 1·013, 95% CI 1·002 to 1·023, p=0·018) only."

Summary at this link