In April 2025, the impact of the immediate withdrawal of U.S. foreign assistance on the health and well-being of people who use drugs was nothing less than massive and monumental. Now one year later, INPUD has conducted a follow-up global survey to take a pulse check to ascertain how our community has fared over the last 14-months.
The survey 2.0 (wave 2), was administered online and was open from 8 May to 22 May 2026. It was designed to
preserve comparability with the 2025 survey (wave 1) the 2025 survey (wave 1) while adding new questions on emerging funding, policy,
service delivery and community-level impacts. Over the course of the 2 weeks, 149 respondents participated in the survey.
During the 58th UNAIDS PCB meeting (30 June – 2 July 2026), INPUD’s Executive Director Anton Basenko talked about some of the critical and urgent takeaways from this survey during the thematic segment:
Over the past year, INPUD surveyed community-led organisations across the world. Our latest report, The Human Costs of Policy Change: A World in Turmoil, shows that the emergency is no longer simply financial.
It has become an emergency for the health, rights, dignity and lives of people who use drugs.
Across countries, needle and syringe programmes are being reduced or closed. Outreach teams are disappearing. Overdose prevention is scaling back. Mobile services are ending. Community organisations—and in some places entire community movements—are struggling to survive.
This should concern every person in this room.
The full report will be published soon. In the meantime, read our key findings and executive summary below.
