Joining Project ECHO provides opportunities for The Union to use this model for other training and knowledge sharing activities.
The Union has recently signed a partnership agreement with Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC).
Launched in 2003, Project ECHO grew out of one doctor’s vision. Sanjeev Arora, M.D., a liver disease specialist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, was frustrated that he could serve only a fraction of the hepatitis C patients in the state. He wanted to serve as many patients with hepatitis C as possible, so he created a free, online mentoring platform and mentored community providers across New Mexico in how to treat the condition. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that hepatitis C care provided by Project ECHO trained community providers resulted in outcomes equal to those provided by specialists at a university.
The ECHO model is now being used on a wide scale all over the world. It has expanded across different diseases and specialties, in both urban and rural locations.
The Union joined Project ECHO to organise follow-up sessions to its different training programmes and in particular, for the TBData4Action training courses in Kenya. The follow-up sessions will not have a clinical focus but will provide support on use of TB data for support supervision, which is the main component of the training courses.
Joining Project ECHO now provides opportunities for The Union to use this model for other training and knowledge sharing activities.