Thanks to our regional Superhubs, there are ECHO partners in more than 20 countries in Latin America. In 2024, these local leaders provided seven Partner Launch Trainings for 36 organizations in Spanish and Portuguese.
Women’s health was a top priority, with four new ECHO programs for rural communities focused on breast and cervical cancer, gender-based violence, maternal mental health, and reproductive health.
In Argentina, the nonprofit organization PROAnet led an antimicrobial stewardship ECHO program across 10 countries on common standards for population-level antibiotic use and needs for antimicrobial program development.
As the ECHO network continues to grow and deepen its impact throughout the region, cross-country and regional collaborations, as well as locally led programming, has been key to a successful, and sustainable, positive impact.
High rates of maternal mortality and morbidity continue to plague many South and Central American countries. This year, ECHO partners launched four new programs focused on best practices in women’s health emergencies.
Focused on rural areas and high-impact interventions—such as hypertension in pregnancy—these initiatives focus on upskilling providers who are least likely to access additional training.
The need for mental health services in Latin America has reached a breaking point. And ECHO partners in eight countries have answered the call.
These ECHO programs provide mental health training and mentorship to rural and low-resource providers, who often only have enough technology and mobility to reach continuing education through a smartphone. These providers may live in remote jungle areas or areas that can only be accessed by boat – truly, a patient’s only hope for help.
In Mexico, the final year of medical school takes place in the country’s most remote and marginalized communities, where young doctors often struggle with unreliable supplies of medicine, outdated medical equipment, and lack of access to specialists.
All new doctors in Mexico are required to complete a year of social service in a remote area, providing a safety net for people in rural and underserved communities. Historically, these social service doctors, known as “pasantes,” have been unsupervised and unsupported, diluting their impact in the communities where they work.
Now, however, pasantes in the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Morales, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala receive ongoing support and exchange best practices through Project ECHO.
Director of Health Integration, Executive Office of the Secretary, Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and Dominican Republic (SECOMISCA) and the Central American Integration System (SICA)
ECHO is a model that connects multidisciplinary teams of experts with health care teams throughout our region. Strategically, ECHO contributes to primary health care by bringing specialized expertise to patient care, contributing to the reduction of health risks as well as the burden of communicable diseases and chronic non-communicable diseases in the region.