Denny Mabetha, Dr Wariri Oghenebrume, Eilidh Cowan and Lisa Thomas all made contributions from VAPAR to the Health Systems Research conference this year (http://healthsystemsresearch.org/hsr2018). The MRC/Wits-Agincourt Unit is particularly proud of Denny, our VAPAR Project Coordinator’s contribution: ‘Water is life’: working with communities to develop local knowledge for action to address water shortage and It destroys families and communities’: alcohol and drug abuse in rural South Africa Denny’s work highlights community-defined health priorities of alcohol and drug abuse and lack of clan safe water in a rural district in the northeast of South Africa and, using digital storytelling, systematises lived experiences into collective forms of knowledge. Denny’s work was exhibited both at the Global Symposium and at the Museum of Liverpool.