​The Other Foundation’s role in convening this process offers an important point of connection. Their work to advance equality and social justice for LGBTIQ+ people in Southern Africa is grounded in an understanding that people carry multiple identities that influence their access to rights and safety. This commitment to dignity and inclusion creates a natural alignment with the realities faced by key populations such as women who use drugs, sex workers and gender diverse people. Intersectionality becomes a practical lens rather than a theoretical idea because it reflects how people live and how they navigate systems that are not always designed with them in mind.

​As the report When Communities Lead: A Story of the Harm Reduction Bill of Kenya 2025 shows, these partnerships helped transform informal grassroots groups into confident policy actors, equipped with the language of rights, advocacy, and law. Their leadership reshaped national conversations, strengthened CSO accountability, and laid the foundation for a regional model of community‑driven drug policy reform.

​Across the week, SANPUD led and supported key activities including overdose‑prevention coordination with international experts, supplying naloxone, establishing a community responder system, and managing real‑time safety communication. 

SANPUD played a central role in strengthening harm reduction safety at INHSU2025 by coordinating a community led overdose prevention system that brought experienced responders together and created a shared protocol for rapid support. The team ensured naloxone kits were available and placed directly in the hands of community members. They set up real time communication channels, provided an emergency response phone, and supported peers to respond locally when incidents occurred. This approach helped maintain consistent safety standards across a diverse group of participants and demonstrated how practical coordination can protect people in moments of uncertainty.
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Below is a full report of the activities in the week. 

​SANPUD also co‑convened major pre‑conference events, including Policy Day, WWUD and stimulant‑use trainings, and global CAB sessions. During the main conference, SANPUD’s leadership was prominent across Community Day, the African Harm Reduction Showcase, stimulant harm‑reduction dialogues, prison‑health panels, and the EMCR networking event. 

​The INHSU Policy Day 2025 brought together policymakers, community leaders and global partners in Cape Town to advance access to harm reduction services across Africa. Delivered in partnership with SANPUD, the meeting centred community leadership as essential to effective, sustainable responses for people who use drugs. Discussions focused on overcoming political, legal and operational barriers, strengthening multisectoral collaboration, and embedding harm reduction within public health systems. Drawing on country experiences and lived expertise, the Policy Day produced practical, evidence‑based recommendations to support policy reform, protect human rights, and scale community‑led services that save lives and strengthen health systems across the region.
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Read or download the full report on Policy Day below. 

​​SANPUD members documented sessions, strengthened cross‑country solidarity, and elevated lived‑experience leadership, with standout contributions such as Linda Malaka’s widely praised nursing presentation. Overall, SANPUD helped anchor the conference in community‑led practice, safety, and African harm‑reduction leadership.
For a summary of the Conference, read or download the Report Summaries below. 

​The conference highlighted urgent themes including shrinking funding landscapes, the need for cross‑movement advocacy, legal gender recognition as a gateway to safer health access, evidence‑based human rights documentation, and the power of intentional storytelling in shifting harmful narratives. SANPUD also engaged in high‑level discussions on equitable funding and Global South leadership, while networking opened promising pathways for collaboration with the Rustin Fund, Visual AIDS, and the Other Foundation. Overall, the conference underscored the importance of integrating harm reduction into LGBTQI spaces and ensuring queer people who use drugs are visible and protected in regional advocacy.

Watch the story here.

He told delegates that South Africa must end punitive drug policy and put health first, urging that the NDMP 2025–2030 review treat substance use as a chronic health and social condition rather than a crime. Mtshweni warned that drug use increases risks of HIV, hepatitis C, overdose and social exclusion, many of which are preventable with evidence‑based, stigma‑free services. ​

Mtshweni set out five priorities for turning policy into practice. Representation: people who use drugs must hold formal, resourced seats at every level of governance so affected communities have real decision‑making power. Decriminalisation: ending penalties for personal use and possession removes barriers to care; decriminalisation saves lives. Harm reduction: opioid substitution therapy, needle and syringe programmes and naloxone access must be ring‑fenced in national, provincial and district budgets. Justice and policing reform: the NDMP should promote diversion and alternatives to incarceration so access to services never depends on avoiding arrest. Financing and sustainability: domestic, predictable funding must follow commitments rather than reliance on emergency or donor support. Taken together, these measures aim to remove barriers to care, reduce preventable harm and ensure that policy commitments are matched by budgets, policing reforms and meaningful community representation across national, provincial and district levels. ​

The speech remained firmly centred on rights, evidence and accountability, and it pointed to a timely shift in community thinking: SANPUD, NACOSA and the PWUD Sector have articulated the No Shame, Just Care: Enforce the Promise vision, which maps closely to Mtshweni’s priorities and signals how communities expect written commitments to be translated into time‑bound remediation. That alignment creates a practical opening — if government and partners accept shared accountability steps, community expectations and policy commitments can be turned into measurable change at the frontline. Mtshweni closed by insisting that people who use drugs are rights‑holders, not problems to be managed, and he urged that dignity, evidence and inclusion guide the NDMP review. Policy without resources is only a promise. ​

​Tracing the network’s journey prior to 2024, the report highlights how SANPUD has steadily built a national voice for people who use drugs, secured harm reduction in policy frameworks, and mobilised communities across provinces. This historical perspective underscores the resilience and solidarity that have carried the network forward, showing how past struggles and victories laid the foundation for today’s impact.

​In 2024, SANPUD continued to strengthen peer‑led networks and expand evidence‑based harm reduction services, reaching thousands of people with practical support and advocacy. The report documents how the organisation challenged stigma, fought for decriminalisation, and held institutions accountable for human rights abuses. With the support of partners, SANPUD piloted innovative projects, deepened leadership development, and amplified community voices through campaigns and creative storytelling — ensuring that dignity and justice remain at the heart of its work.

​Looking ahead, the Annual Report positions SANPUD as both a movement and an institution, committed to building organisational resilience while driving systemic change. Priorities include sustainable funding, stronger provincial representation, and embedding peer‑led monitoring into health and social services. By tracing the road already travelled and setting out the path forward, the report invites readers to join SANPUD in creating a South Africa where people who use drugs live with freedom, dignity, and voice.

​Rooted in the principle of “Nothing about us, without us,” the plan builds on SANPUD’s track record of securing harm reduction in national strategies, advocating for decriminalisation, and amplifying peer voices in both local and global forums. It reflects a participatory process led by people who use drugs themselves, ensuring that lived experience shapes every priority, from health access to legal reform.

​At its core, the plan confronts the crisis of criminalisation and stigma that fuels exclusion, poverty, and systemic injustice. It outlines how SANPUD will strengthen peer‑led networks, expand evidence‑based harm reduction services, and challenge discriminatory laws and practices. Short‑term objectives focus on shifting public attitudes and embedding harm reduction in services, while medium‑term goals target fairer policies, stronger community monitoring, and inclusion in decision‑making. The long‑term vision is systemic change: decriminalisation, rights‑based health services, and recognition of people who use drugs as legitimate actors in civil society.

​To achieve this transformation, SANPUD also commits to building its own organisational resilience. The plan identifies priorities such as financial sustainability, transparent governance, staff development, and knowledge generation. By investing in internal strength alongside external advocacy, SANPUD positions itself as both a movement and an institution capable of driving lasting change. Ultimately, the roadmap is a call to action: to create a South Africa where people who use drugs live with freedom, dignity, and voice, supported by evidence‑based services and respected as equal members of society.