Lived experience
People living with diabetes and families help define the issues, priorities and measures of meaningful progress.
Diabetes Summit
A national platform for collective action
Since 2021, the biennial Diabetes Summit has brought people, institutions and evidence together to strengthen South Africa’s response to diabetes.
202120232025
Established2021
National gatherings3
RhythmBiennial
PurposeVoice to action
Why the Summit matters
A place to listen, align and act
Diabetes is experienced in homes, communities and health facilities, but many of the decisions that shape care are made elsewhere. The Summit connects these realities.
It creates a shared space where lived experience can inform policy, evidence can sharpen priorities and institutions can be challenged to move from commitment to implementation.
What comes together
Three forces for change
The Summit is strongest when community knowledge, collective voice and credible evidence move together.
Collective voice
Civil society and community organisations turn separate experiences into a stronger shared public voice.
Evidence for action
Research, policy and frontline experience are brought together to identify practical gaps and opportunities.
The journey
Three Summits. One growing movement.
Each gathering has built on the last—moving from shared understanding towards a stronger public mandate and clearer accountability.
2021The foundation
Creating a shared national space
The first Diabetes Summit established a place for people living with diabetes, civil society, healthcare professionals and partners to identify common concerns and begin shaping a collective agenda.
2023From policy to practice
Translating policy into reality
The second Summit focused attention on implementation, accountability and the gap between policy commitments and people’s everyday experience of diabetes care.
2025A stronger mandate
Building whole-of-society action
The third Summit widened participation and strengthened the shared mandate for a more coordinated national response, helping lay the groundwork for the Johannesburg Declaration.
2023 outcomes
From deliberation to national engagement
The 2023 Summit did not end when delegates left Future Africa. Its recommendations were documented, published and formally presented to the National Department of Health.
Published report
2023 Diabetes Summit Report
Key discussions and recommendations on translating South Africa’s diabetes targets into practical action.
Read the full reportNational handover
Recommendations presented to government
The report and recommendations were presented to the National Department of Health in 2024.
Read about the handover
2025 outcomes
A wider mandate for national action
The 2025 Summit brought a broad range of voices into one national conversation and reinforced that South Africa’s diabetes crisis requires coordinated action across government, civil society, healthcare, research and communities.
- Centred the experience and leadership of people living with diabetes.
- Connected policy priorities with the realities of access, quality and dignity.
- Produced a shared advocacy mandate and a substantial peer-reviewed academic output.
Advocacy output01
Johannesburg Declaration
A unified call for coordinated national action, sustainable investment and accountability for progress on diabetes prevention and care.
Explore the DeclarationPeer-reviewed output02
2025 Diabetes Summit Special Collection
Innovate for Impact: Reimagining Diabetes Prevention and Care in South Africa brings together an editorial and seven conference reports in the African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine.
Explore the Special CollectionWatch the Summits
Revisit the conversations that shaped each Summit
Watch the recordings and playlist to revisit the ideas, experiences and commitments shared at the 2021, 2023 and 2025 Diabetes Summits.
Full recording
South Africa’s inaugural Diabetes Summit
Revisit the online gathering that launched the Summit journey and introduced the South African Diabetes Charter.
Watch the 2021 SummitFull recording
Diabetes Targets: Translating Policy into Reality
Watch the second Summit’s national conversation on the 90-60-50 targets, implementation and accountability.
Watch the 2023 SummitSummit playlist
Innovate for Impact
Explore the recorded sessions and revisit the ideas, experiences and commitments shared at the third Summit.
Watch the 2025 playlistPreliminary save the date
Early announcement15–17November 2027
The next Diabetes Summit
Diabetes Targets: Five Years Later – Measuring Progress, Accelerating Action
Venue to be announced in early 2027.