All too often, we don't hear from those people who matter most. They are being criminalised, discriminated against, and pushed aside, because of who they are or what they do.

Therefore, on World Aids Day (1 December) and at ICASA -the International Conference for AIDS & STIs in Durban, South Africa from 6th to 11th December, the Love Alliance is giving voice to those people who need to be heard from communities most at risk of HIV to changemakers wanting to make a change.

We're proud to announce the recent publication by Harm Reduction Journal of a leading paper that unpacks how failed policy approaches in the Global South have played a role in sustaining the legacy of colonization.

The question might be asked: "Why would previously colonized nations continue to implement and adopt drug policies that were originally designed to oppress their own people, often at the cost of the loss of traditional and material culture?'. This paper raises this, and many other, important questions. 

The following story is taken from SANPUD Gauteng Regional Representative Koketso Mokubane's presentation on his personal journey of contracting viral Hepatitis (HCV), given during the Tshwane Substance Use Research Symposium in Pretoria on Tuesday 16th November 2021.

This year on November 26th, you are invited to join us in standing in solidarity with Women Who Use Drugs, as part of the global #16DaysOfActivism campaign to highlight Gender-Based Violence!

Invitation: Tshwane Substance Use Research Symposium 

On 16 and 17 November 2021, the University of Pretoria’s Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP), together with the Drug and Substance Abuse (DSA) Unit at the City of Tshwane, and the South African Network of People Who Use Drugs (SANPUD) will be hosting a virtual research symposium focusing on the work done in and around substance use in the City of Tshwane.