As we close out 2021, I can’t help but look back on these past 12 months with astonishment and wonder.
This year has not been easy. Many people around the world faced incredible hardship and loss due to COVID-19, along with other health issues and societal pressures.
Project ECHO has not only persevered, we’ve adapted to meet the unprecedented challenges of our time.
It’s hard to express my gratitude for the determination and generosity of our incredible ECHO team and partners around the globe who contribute their talent, intellect, time and resources to furthering our mission.
ECHO is an incredible force for improving the lives of those most in need, and every opportunity to grow this movement creates ripple effects that build into waves of positive change.
Because of the global ECHO movement, that wave continues to gain strength.
Since the coronavirus pandemic struck, some of the most underserved regions of the world are adopting ECHO as a tool to address their greatest challenges.
Across Africa, Latin America and Asia, ECHO is being embraced by health systems, ministries of health, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and global organizations, including the World Health Organization.
We have welcomed new partners and seen others expand their roles in the ECHO community, with new superhubs launching around the world, including our first African superhub in Nigeria.
In Haiti, Indonesia and Kenya, people are seeing the utility and power of ECHO for solving their unique challenges and are adopting the model to improve their communities. Many of you continue to grow your own programs, start new ones or innovate the model in new ways.
For every participant we reach, we are improving the lives of dozens, if not hundreds, more people. But as incredible as our progress is, we face more challenges as this year comes to an end.
New variants of COVID-19 threaten the health of everyone and further slow our global efforts to end this pandemic. Patients face even more limited access to treatments for devastating diseases and medical conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and cancer. Many of our children face gaps in education that will have life-long impacts – not to mention, the mental health difficulties that this pandemic continues to cause and exacerbate.
We’ve seen again and again that ECHO is playing a critical role in helping to bridge these divides.
From Uganda to the United Kingdom, practitioners and experts are using ECHO to make up for these shortfalls and, despite all of the restrictions and limitations imposed by the pandemic, they are improving care and outcomes with the help of ECHO.
As we head into a new year, Project ECHO sees even more opportunity to address the gaps caused by COVID-19, make systemic improvements and solve these global challenges for the long term. Whether it’s strengthening health systems, improving reading outcomes in children or innovating new uses of the ECHO model, we can and will make a tremendous impact in the year to come.
Sanjeev Arora, MD
Founder and Director
Project ECHO