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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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Free by Five

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Launched in November 2004, Free by Five is an advocacy campaign that calls for free healthcare for HIV/AIDS and anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) in Africa and other developing regions. The campaign maintains that paying for care is one of the main obstacles to treatment and good quality care that people living with HIV/AIDS face. Information and communication technology (ICT) is used as a tool for sharing the declaration (online) and faciltiating the signing of it. As of March 2005, over 600 economists, public health experts, and policy makers had signed on. Signatories aim to use their common voice:
  • to provide economic and public health evidence that could help inform the decisions of policy makers and governments on the issue of free treatment;
  • to urge UNAIDS, the World Health Organizatioon (WHO), the Global Fund, the World Bank, President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and other donors to adopt guidelines and actively promote the principle and implementation of free treatment;
  • to assist activists and others in their advocacy efforts to obtain free treatment.
Communication Strategies

The campaign centres around a declaration that was developed primarily by Pr. Alan Whiteside (Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa); Veronique Collard, Bernard Taverne, and Alice Desclaux from IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France); and Gorik Ooms of MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières, Belgium).

The developers selected the name “Free by Five” for the declaration as a play on words on the WHO's “3 by 5" goal of seeing ARVs made easily available to 3 million people in developing countries by the end of 2005. The declaration states that payment required for AIDS treatment excludes many patients, heightens people's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, and decreases treatment adherence, which may lead to drug resistance.

Advocacy is a core campaign approach. The declaration will be presented to the World Bank, aid donors, WHO, and UNAIDS in an effort to spur a debate that will, it is hoped, lead to a clear commitment from international health institutions and governments to provide free treatment.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS, Rights, Development Assistance.

Key Points

The campaign is based on the belief in free HIV testing and hospital treatment, including ARVs, "because it's a complete set. If a bit doesn't work, the whole thing falls apart." According to the campaign, of 5.5 million HIV-positive people worldwide in need of treatment, only about 440,000 have access to it and in Africa, no more than 4% of those living with HIV/AIDS are getting ARV treatment. Click here for more information on the global campaign.

Partners

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD).

Sources

'The "Free by 5" Campaign for Universal, Free Antiretroviral Therapy: user fees pose a significant barrier to achievement of the "3 by 5" strategy. on November 11 2005.