Project ECHO Receives $10 million Grant From Co-Impact

Program expands its reach in India

The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center's Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) has received a $10 million grant from Co-Impact to strengthen ECHO's global and India teams, as well as its internal technology infrastructure, learning framework, evidence base and relationships with key partners.

Co-Impact, a philanthropic collaboration that includes Richard Chandler, Bill and Melinda Gates, Jeff Skoll, The Rockefeller Foundation and Rohini and Nandan Nilekani, has made a $10 million investment over five years.

To receive funding, Project ECHO underwent a vigorous screening process and was one of five organizations selected from a field of more than 200. Co-Impact selected as finalists those programs thought to have potential for worldwide impact, according to Project ECHO founder Sanjeev Arora, MD.

The grant will help Project ECHO's work in India in the areas of tuberculosis, mental health and hepatitis C. Arora said Tata Trusts, an Indian philanthropy, has agreed to match the $10 million grant for a combined $20 million to fund Project ECHO's work in India.

"This is of particular importance to us because it validates the effectiveness of ECHO," Arora said. "All the lessons we will learn by applying ECHO in India for these most complex health care problems of that country can be applied all over the world. It will help us reach the billion people that we want to help by 2025."

UNM HSC also has a request pending in the New Mexico Legislature to consider funding for Project ECHO to improve care for urban and rural New Mexicans.

Project ECHO, a collaborative model of medical education and care management, is dedicated to demonopolizing knowledge to get the best practice care to underserved people all over the world. It has set a goal of helping one billion people by 2025.​