Health
Health action with informed and engaged societies
Health
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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Published 22 years ago
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Capital Doctor

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Capital Doctor is a call-in radio show that began in 1994 and gives advice to local Ugandan callers and writers on sexual and reproductive health issues under the broader context of advising on all health issues. A team of DJ's and doctors run this show on the local station ‘Capital Radio' and target youth aged 15 to 28 years old with a very frank and popular style of programming.
Communication Strategies

A live radio call-in show named ‘Capital Doctor' was established ion 1994, and became a live show in 1997, it is complimented by the newspaper for youth called ‘straight Talk' and other youth magazine radio programmes. Also, a telephone hotline was established for counselling off-air.

Development Issues

Health, sexual health, condom use, adolescence, hygiene, traditional practices, family planning, diseases such as cholera, and smoking.

Key Points

Some innovative aspects of the programme include its extremely frank and direct style of approaching sexual issues, its live and authoritative context, the phone-in interactive style of the programme (was one of the first in Uganda to adopt this style), the use of HIV-positive presenters, links with other community media outlets. Also, continuous impact assessment is complemented by listener feedback, commercial sponsorship partnerships were formed with condom manufacturers, and satellites were used to increase signal reach.

Partners

Population Services International (PSI), Protector Condoms, Ugandan Ministry of Health, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Ugandan Red Cross.