In response to recommendations from the Ending the Epidemics Statewide Coalition of Community Advocates, OA/STDCB partnered with Facente Consulting to develop a plan for a statewide collaborative, harm reduction approach to preventing and treating HIV, HCV, and STIs in California. We know that how and where we live, work, and access care plays a huge role in our health, and we cannot end the HIV, STD, and HCV epidemics without addressing racial equity. ​

We wanted to treat HIV, HCV, and STIs as a “syndemic" – a situation where having one health issue places a person at greater risk for another one, and having two or more health issues at the same time makes one or both health issues worse – and we did not want a strategic plan with different chapters focused on HIV, hepatitis C, and STIs individually. We did not want to recreate silos of prevention, care, testing, or data – even though we know those are the cornerstones of our work on these issues. Ultimately, the group decided that to best enhance our work, we needed to look at these issues through the lens of SDoH to ensure that all Californians have an opportunity to thrive. 

We invited more than two dozen speakers from entities like the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of Health Care Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Williams Institute, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, and the Transitions Clinic Network to talk to us about the relevant work they were doing and collaborate with us to develop the strategies that appeared in the final plan. We released an open survey in both English and Spanish that was taken by more than 640 people throughout California, to gather ideas and insights from the greatest range of people possible. We had multiple rounds of revisions, to land on a plan that was visionary, yet actionable – especially combined with the Implementation Blueprint.​​​