United States

Focused on Implementing Long-Term Solutions for the Country’s Most Pressing Problems

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to recede and we address its long-term impact, ECHO’s U.S. network is stronger than ever. During the pandemic, ECHO was a critical component of the country’s response to the emergency. By partnering with federal agencies like Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others, the entire ECHO network supported COVID-19 training and mentorship in diverse settings, from nursing homes and inner-city hospitals to remote Native American communities in Alaska and New Mexico.

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of our partners nationwide, the ECHO Act of 2020 created a congressional funding mechanism for ECHO programs. In 2022, our partners across the country, from Oregon and Puerto Rico to New Mexico and Massachusetts, have used the funding from the ECHO Act to launch new programs focused on long COVID, behavioral health, mental health, workforce resiliency and more.

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact both health care providers and patients, ECHO launched a national Behavioral Health Workforce Resilience program in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Forty-five states are now participating in these ECHOs, with more than 3,500 participants. The ECHO Long COVID and Fatiguing Illness Recovery Program completed its first year of sessions, with partners including University of Washington, University of Colorado and Family Health Centers of San Diego.

Woman talking to men in orange jumpsuits.

Building Resilience in Behavioral Health Providers

Behavioral health providers are particularly susceptible to burnout, and thousands of studies across behavioral health occupations show that providers have reported high levels of burnout-related effects, including emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue and depression.

Launched in March 2022 and covering 45 states, the Behavioral Health Professional Workforce Resilience Program supports behavioral health professionals across the country as they help their patients struggling with unprecedented challenges. The program is designed to provide essential skills for dealing with stress and anxiety, and to help psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and counselors develop a sense of resilience and commitment to the critical service they provide.

In less than a year, sessions were attended by more than 3,600 behavioral health providers who learned about and shared the stresses of their experience and gained tools to feel supported in their work with clients and patients.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people have turned to behavioral health professionals to navigate depression, grief and anxiety. These caregivers need tools to help them care for themselves so they can better care for their patients in need.”

Dr. Jeffrey Katzman

Professor and Vice Chair, University of New Mexico Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Africa

Building a Sustainable Network in Africa to Meet Fast-Growing Demand

Large group of people posing for a photo.

The adoption of ECHO in Africa has grown dramatically, and work to build a sustainable, on-the-ground presence in Africa is moving forward quickly. The African continent has a significant opportunity to transform health care, country by country, by focusing on programs addressing infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, emergency preparedness and response and beyond. As our understanding of health priorities in each country has expanded—along with our relationships with the ministries of health, non-governmental organizations, and leading universities serving those countries—the ECHO Model is increasingly viewed as one of the most effective and efficient ways to get life-saving medical knowledge to the first mile of care. For the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other partners, ECHO is the go-to solution for implementing African health priorities quickly, cost-effectively and at scale.

Using ECHO’s “all teach, all learn” approach, our partners in Africa are now establishing national and regional “ECHO Collaboratives,” which are networks where they can share country- and region-specific learnings, best practices and proven approaches with their peers. These partners are working together to launch new ECHO hubs, strengthen programs and plan for a more equitable future as they create supportive and resilient communities.

ECHO sessions are really a life-changing experience where health care workers are empowered to give quality care to all palliative care patients. To me, it has been enlightening, enabling us (palliative care nurses) to identify gaps in our palliative care services delivery. It has helped us to grow and work to improve the quality of palliation we give to our clients. The way we were caring for our clients before and after ECHO sessions will never be the same.”

Nontsikelelo Ntuli

Eswatini Palliative Care Nurse

Working Toward Sustainable Development Goals in Sudan

With a vision to sustainably develop healthy, prosperous communities in Sudan, Dr. Nada Fadul and her colleagues founded SuDRO, the Sustainable Development Response Organization. This Sudanese nonprofit, formed in 2022, has a mission “to strive, through innovative and collaborative efforts, to attain prosperous, equitable and sustainable communities.” And their strategies are all supported by the ECHO Model.

SuDRO is working to implement sustainable community projects using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by training youth, women and other community partners on implementing Project ECHO to meet the SDGs.

To do this, SuDRO created the Sudan ECHO Center of Excellence to build collaborative relationships between communities and academic institutions, governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector—across health, infrastructure, peacebuilding, community development and education. To ensure their organization is creating lasting change, they are establishing local and culturally applicable= monitoring and evaluation tools to track progress and outcomes.

If we want to build sustainable relationships, we need to go beyond health. We need to address all of the issues that lead to public health, like water, waste and telecommunications. And we need to provide equity in knowledge.”

Dr. Nada Fadul

Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Nebraska Medical Center

India

Transforming Health Care and Education in the World’s Largest Democracy

In 2008, ECHO India was launched to meet the growing, culturally unique needs of under-resourced populations from New Delhi to Goa. Since then, the ECHO Model has transformed health care in India, tackling hepatitis C, mental health, tuberculosis and many other diseases—bringing much needed specialty care to tens of thousands of patients across the country. Today, ECHO India, a locally-led nonprofit trust, continues to use the ECHO telementoring model for sustainable, low-cost improvements in health care, while expanding its reach into education, water security and more.

Addressing India’s Mental Health Crisis with Accessible Care

India faces a national mental health crisis: The rates of insomnia, domestic abuse and anxiety increase as the country struggles with a severe shortage of psychologists, therapists and psychiatrists.

After implementing the ECHO Model to train frontline health care workers in mental health, the National Institute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences saw a huge increase in patients, nearly 30 times its original reach.

Due to the absence of psychiatrists, there was no mental health care available here. But now, thanks to the training, I see about 1,000 patients every month. Around 50 to 60% of my patients are women and most of them would never have gone to get treatment all the way to Raipur. People rarely spoke about such issues and kept ‘patients’ locked up in the house and neglected. Now they trust us and believe there is a solution to their problems.”

Dr. Rachna Padamavar

MO (MBBS), and ECHO participant trained by NIMHANS

Asia-Pacific

Expanding in Asia-Pacific to Serve Some of the World’s Most Remote Communities

People wearing masks and lab coats in a lab.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, ECHO is being adopted to address the immense challenges in delivering health care to millions of people living in extremely remote and under-resourced areas. In 2022, ECHO was adopted in the Philippines and Indonesia, island nations where delivering health care can be extraordinarily challenging.

Using ECHO, experts at national health systems are training and mentoring health care professionals in remote areas to deliver best-practice diagnostics and care for breast cancer and other conditions. In some areas, the ECHO Model has been used to introduce breast cancer screening for the first time ever. Project ECHO also welcomed its first ECHO Superhub in the Asia-Pacific when the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital came on board in 2022, strengthening our training and support services in the region. The hospital now conducts its own ECHO partner launch trainings and supports new hubs on their ECHO journey.

The use of ECHO in Vietnam and across the region is closing the gap in care for the most rural and underserved patients. With ECHO, we are training hospitals across the country so they can tackle non-communicable diseases and other critical public health priorities.”

Prof. Trần Minh Điển

Director of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital

Vietnam Launches Cardiology ECHO to Treat Growing Rates of Hypertension

With rising rates of various non-communicable diseases across Vietnam, the Hung Vuong General Hospital, located in the northern Phu Tho region, launched its Cardiology ECHO Program in 2022 to train health care providers in rural areas to detect and treat high blood pressure so that patients could receive earlier and less extreme interventions than if they were seen at a later stage. Seeing success with this initial program, they expanded the ECHO’s scope to address the early diagnosis and prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Dr. Piter Martinez and experts from the Hung Vuong Hospital System share best practices and mentor health care workers across the region to diagnose, monitor and treat patients. This early intervention helps patients get the treatment they need and helps prevent more serious and life-threatening conditions.

ECHO gives us a way for us to improve the knowledge of health care workers across the entire region so they can diagnose more patients earlier and prevent more serious and long-term issues that arise from non-communicable diseases.”

Dr. Piter Martinez

Hung Vuong General Hospital (pictured left)

Latin America

Expanding ECHO’s Reach in Latin America Through New Programs and Partnerships

People posing on steps holding up certificates.

Project ECHO celebrated its eighth anniversary in Latin America in 2022, as the region continues to add ECHO hubs and programs to address its health priorities. La Universidad de la República, in Uruguay, came on board in 2015 with its Frequent Hematology Consultations ECHO. Today, it has become a Superhub and expanded to more than 23 programs. Increasing local and regional leadership, Project ECHO also welcomed CEDIA, the Ecuadorian Corporation for the Development of Research and Academia, as a Superhub this year, joining the Instituto Nacional de Salud in El Salvador and the Fundación Carlos Slim in Mexico. These key partners will foster culturally responsive growth throughout the region as they train and support new ECHO partners.

The impact that Project ECHO has created in El Salvador is very positive and important, because we have changed the paradigm for trainings at local levels. This has enabled people to access new knowledge and refresh old learnings. This, of course, means better patient care.”

Dr. Luis Enrique Fuentes

Instituto Nacional de Salud

Cervical Cancer Program Transforms Patient Care in Uruguay

While cervical cancer rates have decreased in the U.S. and other high-income countries, cervical cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in Latin America, with stagnant or increasing rates in some countries. To combat this trend, la Universidad de la Republica (Montevideo, Uruguay) partnered with the Texas-based MD Anderson Cancer Center to launch a Cervical Cancer ECHO in 2015 with the goal of sharing best practices for prevention and management. Today, physicians from 10 countries in Latin America participate in the monthly meetings. By using technology for training to increase capacity and to implement low-cost, evidence-based strategies for cervical cancer control, ECHO partners are supporting their countries’ strong cancer control policies and health system-strengthening initiatives.

Cancer

Advancing Cancer Care Around the Globe

Too often, the most vulnerable cancer patients are unable to access care. Their cancers are diagnosed later, at less treatable stages. Project ECHO launched the Cancer ECHO Initiative to bring high-quality care where cancer specialists are not easily accessible. Since then, Cancer ECHO programs have launched in 29 countries, improving screenings, early detection, diagnosis and treatment.

In 2022, the Cancer ECHO Initiative saw its biggest year of growth, an important milestone in its six-year history: With 130 new programs launched, there are now more than 450 cancer and palliative care programs.

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Improving Cancer Care for Women in Cameroon

Conflict-torn Cameroon has a physician shortage and the few physicians it does have do not have the time or expertise to do cervical screenings. Unlike the U.S. and other Western countries, highly skilled nurses are allowed to perform certain procedures that are reserved for doctors elsewhere. Leveraging this resource, and using a nurse-led approach, the Women’s Health Program has offered affordable preventive cancer services while forging strong, committed relationships with local communities.

Working with community health workers and other partners, nurses trained and mentored through the Cameroon Cervical Cancer Prevention ECHO have organized several successful cervical screenings and vaccination clinics, including:

In one village, they expected 40 to 50 women to show up for a screening; they were shocked when nearly 500 attended.
For a human papillomavirus vaccination clinic that involved an extensive public education campaign, about 6,300 girls participated for the initial dose, and nearly 83% completed the three-dose course.
Nurses held a community event with nearly 400 women participants, during which they completed screenings, treated pre-cancerous lesions and took biopsies. They even identified one person with invasive cancer who was treated successfully.

With providers from 10 other African countries joining its sessions, the Cameroon Cervical Cancer Prevention ECHO could serve as a model for addressing cervical and other cancers across the continent.

Maternal and Child Health

Building Gender Equity with Project ECHO Maternal and Child Health Programs

In low-income countries, the risk of a woman dying from a maternal-related cause is about 130 times higher than for women in high-income countries. Project ECHO is working to narrow that gap by getting the right knowledge to the right place at the right time. ECHO is being used around the world to help ensure that women and children are no longer overlooked by health care systems that have often ignored them. From high-risk pregnancy and perinatal mental health to autism, pediatric oncology and more, ECHO is promoting equity in under-resourced communities around the globe.

Ethiopian Hospitals Improve Care for Mothers and Babies with ECHO

In 1990, Ethiopia’s child mortality rate was one of the highest in the world: 205 deaths for every 1,000 babies born. By 2021, the country’s health system had made significant progress, lowering mortality rates by 84%, but there is still much work to be done in this fast-developing country with persistent public health challenges.

When the Ethiopian Pediatrics Society, together with the American Academy of Pediatrics, decided to address the problem, they turned to Project ECHO. For their inaugural project, the hospitals chose to improve the timing of cord clamping, a low-cost intervention with the potential to make a significant impact. “Delayed clamping” means the provider waits one to three minutes after birth to cut or clamp the umbilical cord in non-emergency situations. This delay allows extra time for the blood in the cord and placenta to flow to the baby, decreasing the risk of anemia and boosting neurodevelopment as the baby grows.

Dr. Bogale Worku, executive director of the Ethiopian Pediatrics Society, has seen firsthand ECHO’s ability to create meaningful change. “When we finished with the cord-clamping project, [the hospitals] told us, ‘This is the culture in our unit now. [Cord-clamping knowledge] is no longer a challenge, no longer a gap,’” he says. “I’m so happy we can move the same standards to remote areas where connections are available.”

After 12 ECHO sessions, combining expert lectures and case discussions by hospital-based quality improvement coaches, all eight participating hospitals significantly improved the rate of providers using delayed cord clamping. Nearly all reached their goal of 90% compliance.

Diabetes

Addressing the Global Impacts of Diabetes with Holistic Solutions

More than 415 million people around the world have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and hundreds of millions more have “pre-diabetes,” or a higher-than-normal blood sugar level. Maintaining insulin and glucose levels, diet, exercise and regular check-ups are essential for people living with these conditions, and the limited access to knowledgeable health care providers threatens the well-being of these patients.

The Endo ECHO was created to connect experts in endocrinology to community health clinics in rural New Mexico and has since expanded to more than 20 programs nationwide. In partnership with the ECHO Diabetes Action Network, Endo ECHO programs address the medically underserved inrural and urban communities. Each program follows the ECHO Model, with a commitment to increasing access to specialty care, destigmatizing the condition, building confidence in health care providers to manage and treat patients with diabetes, improving outcomes in all populations and more.

In 2022, the ECHO Diabetes Action Network, a collaboration with Boston University, Med-IQ and diabetes patient advocate partner DiaTribe Foundation addressed diabetes care management for primary care providers with topics ranging from kidney health and glucose control to addressing social determinants of health to achieving diabetes management goals.

Using ECHO, Providers Tackle Diabetes Crisis in Rural New Mexico

An estimated 184,000 New Mexicans have diabetes, and every year at least 12,000 more are diagnosed with the disease. For family nurse practitioner Flavio Salazar, providing care to patients in his hometown of Las Vegas, New Mexico, is personal. And for his patients, that means getting life-saving diabetes care in their own community. Salazar works at El Centro Family Health, a federally qualified health center that receives federal funds to offer primary care services in underserved areas, where about 25% of his patients are living with diabetes, especially Type 2.

Salazar participates in Project ECHO’s endocrinology program, where experts and learners rely on one another for continuous collaboration, problem solving and professional growth by leveraging technology and sharing best practices. With expert advice on medication, nutrition, testing and more, ECHO’s endocrinology program provides tools to navigate this community crisis and to manage patients’ diabetes where they live.

Emergency Preparedness and Response

ECHO Proves Critical in Global Emergency Preparedness and Response Efforts

Open air vaccination session in an african village during corona virus pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic struck the world hard and fast, laying bare the critical importance of emergency preparedness. Public health emergency response requires an informed workforce supported by ongoing training and robust infrastructure. These emergencies can overwhelm health workers and systems; they need the best, most up-to-date information pertinent to the emergency in order to respond effectively.

Project ECHO’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the usefulness of the ECHO Model as an essential tool for emergency preparedness and response, allowing experts to distribute knowledge where people live through digital learning and mentorship. Recent uses of the ECHO Model in conflict zones have shown how critical the use of ECHO’s telementoring can be to rapidly disseminate best practices in the areas of greatest need.

In 2022, Project ECHO worked in partnership with WHO AFRO, the World Health Organization’s Africa Office, to create a digital learning system using the ECHO Model, which is supporting the use of ECHO in all 47 member countries across Africa. Local disease experts and frontline health workers share invaluable lessons in real time, creating communities of practice using the ECHO Model.

ECHO for Emergency Care in Conflict Settings Helps Ukraine Respond to Trauma

Caring for trauma patients in areas of armed conflict is challenging, and health care systems run the risk of becoming overwhelmed trying to care for an influx of patients. In May 2022, Project ECHO co-developed and deployed the Armed Conflict Trauma Training program with the Swiss Foundation for Innovation and Ukraine Ministry of Health.

The program was designed as an eight-week tactical online trauma course with 16 hours of content following the World Health Organization Basic Emergency Care guidelines, and includes conflict-related mental health content.

Now is the time to stand up virtual learning models that can empower health professionals to help their patients—and themselves—recover and heal.

MARKALAIN DÉRY

Infectious Diseases Physician, chief innovation officer at Access Health Louisiana

Education

Fostering Gender Equality in the Classroom

Women and girls make up half the population of the world, which also means half of the world’s potential. As a step toward fostering gender equality, ECHO India is laying the groundwork for Gender Equity ECHO programs that support educators in becoming agents of change for gender equality in their schools, families and communities. A teacher’s beliefs, attitude and expertise can impact students’ behavior, empowering them to create gender-inclusive classrooms and promote an equitable atmosphere.

The program focuses on six core areas: awareness, critical dialogue, structural bias, gender in the media, the gender lens and empowerment. By reaching young people as their attitudes are just beginning to take shape, ECHO for Gender Equity is working to build sustainable gender equity across India. By supporting educators as they implement gender sensitization in classrooms, this program will help ensure that student has the tools to reach their full potential.

You are viewing the 2022 Annual Report. To view the 2023 Annual Report, click here.

Project ECHO
2022 Annual Report

In 2022, Project ECHO helped more people, in more places, than ever before.

Illustration of world globe with various headshots of people displayed on top.

People sitting in a room listening to a presentation.

Created in 2003

To empower rural health care providers with expert knowledge and best practices, Project ECHO uses videoconferencing to build virtual communities of practice. In addition to running ECHO programs, Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center trains and supports ECHO partners around the world as we work together to improve lives, providing our global network of partners with free training, technical support and a suite of technology tools to help enable their success. By helping professionals learn and share best practices, from experts and each other—in health care, education and other fields across disciplines and geographies—ECHO reduces disparities and drives collaborative solutions for local priorities.

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How ECHO Works

Message from Dr. Arora

Friends and Colleagues,

In reflecting on this past year, I’m struck by how much Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and our 900+ ECHO partners around the world have accomplished together. In 2022, we collectively reached a significant milestone: an estimated 1.5 million people from 193 countries have logged an estimated 4 million attendances in ECHO sessions.

This immense human network has impacted many hundreds of millions of people. I want to thank all of you who have been involved in the ECHO community this past year and in years past. Your passion and expertise in addressing your communities’ most critical needs have made all the difference.

Twenty years ago, we created the ECHO Model to help solve a specific problem: how to expand knowledge about treatment of hepatitis C and access to care across the vast state of New Mexico. I could not have imagined then that this same framework would be used to speed adoption of COVID-19 best practices in the face of a global pandemic, or to help improve cancer care for women in remote communities in Africa.

The world has changed in dramatic ways since that first ECHO session 20 years ago. Today, videoconferencing technology is ubiquitous, and each day more and more communities—from rural New Mexico to Ethiopia—have access to stable and increasingly affordable internet. New technologies such as Chat GPT are becoming part of our everyday language as the pace of new knowledge accelerates exponentially.

Yet, however much our world has changed, the core reason for the ECHO Model remains—we as human beings need human connection. We are storytellers who learn by exchanging stories (cases) and tackling problems together. This is how complex problems get solved.

In the wake of the pandemic and these rapid changes in society, 2022 was a year of much introspection for me personally and our organization. Seeing a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for the world to build back stronger as we emerge from the pandemic, we embarked on a deep process of listening to our partners, ministry of health officials and our funders. We also listened closely to the broader societal dialogue about ongoing gaps in equitable access to care in many places (exacerbated by the pandemic), setbacks in educational attainment due to the pandemic and the persistent challenges of ensuring that women and girls have the same opportunities in society that men and boys around the world have long enjoyed.

As a result of these conversations and reflection, in 2023 we are redoubling our commitment to work collaboratively with all of you to build strong ECHO programs that help address problems in your communities. We will focus on expanding our understanding of how the ECHO Model can support emerging areas of need such as gender equity, and education, while continuing to expand our understanding of best practices in health care. We are also committed to introducing our newest iECHO platform to partners around the world to help make starting, running, and evaluating ECHO programs as seamless and easy as possible, allowing you to make the best use of your scarce human resources.

As you read the stories of impact in this report, I hope you will be inspired. For those of you who are part of the ECHO network, thank you for all you do every day. For those of you who are only just beginning to learn about ECHO, we invite you to join our global network and help us scale our impact to reach 1 billion people by 2025.

Warm regards,
Sanjeev

ECHO Supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

ECHO by the Numbers as of Year End 2022

4,003,407 ECHO Session Attendances

896 ECHO Hubs Launched + 33 Superhubs

63 Countries Have ECHO Hubs

193 Countries Have ECHO Participants

505 Peer-Reviewed Publications Validated the ECHO Model

ECHO ATTENDANCES

There’s got to be a way to think about health care as a human right that is connected to a mechanism that works. Project ECHO is that. It’s a tremendously powerful way to extend the best care to everyone, to absolutely everyone, to leave nobody out. It makes health care as a human right be real.”

Don Berwick

Former Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Improvement
Co-founder and Former President/CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

ECHO Around the World

global map showing ECHO attendances and global hub and superhub locations

Autumn Along the River with Mountain Background

New Mexico

Two Decades of Giving New Mexicans Better Access to Health Care and Education

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United States

Focused on Implementing Long-Term Solutions for the Country’s Most Pressing Problems

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Low- and Middle-Income Countries

A Window to Reduce Health Disparities and Build Equity

As the world continues to restore and strengthen health systems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for Project ECHO’s model in low- and middle-income countries is high. Many countries need a new solution for training and supporting local health care workers to provide essential health services and specialized care, and to be fully prepared for emerging local and global health crises. Project ECHO is that solution. We have built a strong presence in Africa, India, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, supporting local partners in their use of the ECHO Model for training and mentoring health providers. We now have the opportunity to leverage our global network of partners to create lasting, systemic change that reduces inequities and improves the lives of millions.

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Africa

Building a Sustainable Network in Africa to Meet Fast-Growing Demand

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India

Transforming Health Care and Education in the World’s Largest Democracy

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Asia-Pacific

Expanding in Asia-Pacific to Serve Some of the World’s Most Remote Communities

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Latin America

Expanding ECHO’s Reach in Latin America Through New Programs and Partnerships

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ECHO Strategic Initiatives

Health Care

Strengthening Health Systems to Address Critical Needs

Every year, millions of people around the world die of diseases that are preventable, treatable and even curable because health care providers in their communities don’t have the knowledge and expertise needed to address their conditions. Project ECHO offers a low-cost, scalable solution that increases the capacity of health workers in under–resourced communities to provide best-practice care and education to their communities. ECHO connects hundreds of partners worldwide—governments, academic medical centers, non-governmental organizations—and enables them to train and mentor hundreds of thousands of health care providers in virtual communities of practice where all teach and all learn. ECHO health programs address more than 70 disease areas.

Cancer

Advancing Cancer Care Around the Globe

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Maternal & Child Health

Improving Gender Equity with Project ECHO Maternal and Child Health Programs

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Diabetes

Addressing the Impacts of Diabetes with Holistic Solutions

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Emergency Prepared-ness and Response

ECHO Proves Critical in Global Emergency Preparedness and Response Efforts

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Two women, one looking through a microscope.

Education

Giving Educators the Tools to Meet Challenges and Build More Equitable Classrooms

With a proven track record in providing critical medical knowledge to communities that need it most, Project ECHO has expanded beyond health care to improve education around the globe so that every child has access to the tools and skills they need to fulfill their potential.

ECHO for Education builds virtual communities of practice for educators to solve educational challenges in dozens of communities worldwide. Educators who participate in ECHO programs learn evidence-based best practices, solve problems collaboratively through case-based learning and implement new practices in their daily work with the support of local experts. In 2022, ECHO for Education expanded programs to serve teachers and school leaders in New Mexico, India and Africa, with about 3,000 participants throughout the year.

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A teacher’s beliefs, attitude and expertise can impact students’ behavior, empowering them to create gender-inclusive classrooms and promote equitable opportunities. The need of the hour for gender equity is ECHO, a technology-driven telementoring platform that can provide both the infrastructure and a model to help teachers and other professionals make a difference in classrooms around the world.”

ANURADHA RAI

Principal, Ambience Public School, Gurgaon

Research and Evaluation

2022 Research Highlights

As of the end of 2022, more than 500 peer-reviewed research papers have demonstrated the effectiveness of Project ECHO in improving patient outcomes, increasing job satisfaction and effectiveness of health care providers and building communities of practice that serve under-resourced communities.

ECHO Mentorship Enables Zambia to Accelerate Control of HIV Epidemic

In collaboration with the Zambia Ministry of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ECHO Model was used in combination with in-person training to facilitate an HIV-mentoring program in four provinces in Zambia. The curriculum emphasized HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy and quality improvement procedures. Compared to the pre-mentorship period, facilities adopted more efficient and effective HIV testing procedures, increasing the number of individuals on antiretroviral therapy and increasing the rate of viral suppression from about 85% to 90%.
Boyd et al. (2022)

ECHO Participation Expands Access to Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Buprenorphine is the gold standard of opioid use disorder treatment, allowing patients to get care as outpatients and reducing the barrier to care and recovery. In a study involving 918 clinicians, primary care clinicians who attended ECHO were more likely, by 23%, to obtain a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine than clinicians not trained under ECHO. The ECHO-trained clinicians prescribed buprenorphine to 8% more of their patients with opioid use disorder than the number of patients prescribed by the matched comparison clinicians.
Solmeyer et al. (2022)

Two women sitting at table in conference room with virtual meeting on TV.

Telementoring for School Personnel Helps Children Return to Learning After Concussion

Return to learn (RTL) after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) presents unique challenges for school professionals. Using Project ECHO, a multidisciplinary team of subject matter experts delivered five one-hour sessions across five cohorts of 133 school-based professionals. Participants reported statistically significant improvements in essential aspects of RTL knowledge and self-efficacy, including better understanding of how to manage a student with mTBI (44.8% to 86.9%), benefits of early return to school for students following mTBI (31.8% to 86.9%) and the importance of written RTL policies and procedures (55.1% to 97.1%).
McAvoy et al. (2022)

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Our [The Goradia] foundation began funding Project ECHO India in 2015 to scale their burgeoning country operations. We knew they had immense potential to grow across the country, but the scale Project ECHO has achieved in five short years is something we never could have predicted.”

Sapphira Goradia

Goradia Foundation

Funders

2022 Funders

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Board of Trustees of Tthe Leland Stanford Junior University
Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
CDC Foundation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Chronic Liver Disease Foundation, Inc.
Clinton Health Access Initiative
ECMC Foundation
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
Family Health Centers of San Diego, Inc.
Family Health International
Fort Defiance Indian Hospital Board, Inc.

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts
GE Foundation
Genentech, Inc
Gilead Sciences, Inc.
HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
HHS Health Resources and Services Administration
HHS Indian Health Service
Hopewell Fund
JHPIEGO Corporation
John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.
Laura and John Arnold Foundation
Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation
Medscape, LLC
Merck Foundation
Miners Colfax Medical Center
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia
Montanas del Norte Area Health Education Center
National Network of Public Health Institutes
National Philanthropic Trust
New Mexico Corrections Department
New Mexico Department of Health
New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department
New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department
New Mexico Public Education Department
New Venture Fund
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
Pennsylvania State University
Pfizer, Inc
Regents of the University of California
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Southcentral Foundation
The ELMA Foundation
UBS Optimus Foundation
United States Air Force
United States Department of Agriculture
United States Naval Forces Africa
Valhalla Charitable Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
World Health Organization

All Previous Funders

AbbVie, Inc.
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
African Field Epidemiology Network
African Society for Laboratory Medicine
Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board, Inc.
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Institutes for Research
American Society of Addiction Medicine
ASTRA Merck Pharmaceutical
Bernalillo County
Bernalillo County Community Health Council
Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico
Board of Trustees of Indiana University

Bristol Myers Squibb
Case Western Reserve University
City of Albuquerque
University of New Mexico College of Population Health
Columbia University
Con Alma Health Foundation
Dallas County Hospital District
Defense Health Agency
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Health Care Service Corporation
Health Research, Inc.
HealthInsight Management Corporation
HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Hidalgo Medical Services
High Plains Regional Education Cooperative #3
JBS International, Inc.
Liver Institute and Foundation for Education and Research
Massachusetts General Hospital
McCune Charitable Foundation
National Council for Behavioral Health
Navajo Area Indian Health Services
New Mexico Department of Finance & Administration
Nicholson Foundation
Northwest Regional Education Cooperative
PNM Resources Foundation
Presbyterian Health Plan, Inc.
Prevent Cancer Foundation
Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children, Inc.
Region IX Education Cooperative
Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid, LLC
Seattle Indian Health Board
Synergy Enterprises, Inc.
Tanzania Health Promotion Support
Task Force for Global Health
The Audacious Project
The EMMES Corporation
UBS Optimus Foundation UK
United States Army Medical Command
United States Department of the Interior
University of British Columbia
University of California, San Francisco
University of Florida Board of Trustees
University of Kentucky Research Foundation
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Washington
University Research Co. LLC
Virginia Department of Health
Western Sky Community Care

Support Project ECHO

Join Us in Saving and Improving the Lives of Millions Around the World.

Your generosity makes a difference. Join Project ECHO in getting the right knowledge to the right places at the right time so we can bring best-practice health care and education to everyone, helping them achieve their full potential. Backed by a solid body of research, Project ECHO’s potential is unprecedented. Put simply, we are changing the way knowledge is shared to advance human health and well-being. The result looks different in every community, but the impact is always profound.

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Project ECHO is a powerful, affordable and scalable approach to significantly strengthen health systems to serve marginalized populations in the Global South. In watching the evolution of this organization, I have been particularly impressed in how they stepped up to support the global pandemic response, providing community, vital information and problem solving for local health care workers all over the world.”

Olivia Leland

Co-Impact

United States

Focused on Implementing Long-Term Solutions for the Country’s Most Pressing Problems

Building Resilience in Behavioral Health Providers

Africa

Building a Sustainable Network in Africa to Meet Fast-Growing Demand

Working Toward Sustainable Development Goals in Sudan

India

Transforming Health Care and Education in the World’s Largest Democracy

Addressing India’s Mental Health Crisis with Accessible Care

Asia-Pacific

Expanding in Asia-Pacific to Serve Some of the World’s Most Remote Communities

Vietnam Launches Cardiology ECHO to Treat Growing Rates of Hypertension

Latin America

Expanding ECHO’s Reach in Latin America Through New Programs and Partnerships

Cervical Cancer Program Transforms Patient Care in Uruguay

Cancer

Advancing Cancer Care Around the Globe

Improving Cancer Care for Women in Cameroon

Maternal and Child Health

Building Gender Equity with Project ECHO Maternal and Child Health Programs

Ethiopian Hospitals Improve Care for Mothers and Babies with ECHO

Diabetes

Addressing the Global Impacts of Diabetes with Holistic Solutions

Using ECHO, Providers Tackle Diabetes Crisis in Rural New Mexico

Emergency Preparedness and Response

ECHO Proves Critical in Global Emergency Preparedness and Response Efforts

ECHO for Emergency Care in Conflict Settings Helps Ukraine Respond to Trauma

Education

Fostering Gender Equality in the Classroom

Project ECHO 2022 Annual Report

Created in 2003

Message from Dr. Arora

Friends and Colleagues,

ECHO Supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

ECHO by the Numbers as of Year End 2022

ECHO ATTENDANCES

ECHO Around the World

New Mexico

United States

Low- and Middle-Income Countries

A Window to Reduce Health Disparities and Build Equity

Africa

India

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

ECHO Strategic Initiatives

Health Care

Strengthening Health Systems to Address Critical Needs

Cancer

Maternal & Child Health

Diabetes

Emergency Prepared-ness and Response

Education

Giving Educators the Tools to Meet Challenges and Build More Equitable Classrooms

Research and Evaluation

2022 Research Highlights

ECHO Mentorship Enables Zambia to Accelerate Control of HIV Epidemic

ECHO Participation Expands Access to Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Telementoring for School Personnel Helps Children Return to Learning After Concussion

Funders

2022 Funders

All Previous Funders

Support Project ECHO

Project ECHO
2022 Annual Report