ECHO India is supporting the Central TB Division (CTD) under the Government Of India’s Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in conducting ECHO TB Clinics and programmatic sessions across the country as part of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP). These ECHO TB Clinics have ensured continuous service delivery and enabled managing NTEP during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic years.

ECHO sessions ensured that institutions and providers at the peripheries could deliver TB diagnostic and treatment services as per NTEP requirements. Healthcare volunteers and treatment supporters have also had a chance to upgrade their knowledge through an NTEP-relevant e-curriculum. ECHO’s master trainer workshop, Modernizing the Training System and Course for Health Volunteers on NTEP, has been successfully conducted in several states.

At present, ECHO India is supporting NTEP through 63 ECHO TB Hubs in 34 Indian states and Union Territories. ECHO Hubs established at State TB Cells (STCs), Centres of Excellence (CoEs), and State TB & Demonstration Centres (STCDs) provide continuous support to peripheral spokes and are helping them to achieve the Indian government’s aim of eliminating TB by 2025. Further, rolling out the NTEP programs over the iECHO platform now allows hubs to set up TB clinics independently.

Key Highlights

25 new ECHO TB Hubs were established, in addition to the existing 38 ECHO TB Hubs, in CoEs, STCs, and STDCs during 2020-2021, taking the total number of ECHO TB Hubs supporting NTEP activities to 63 across India. Furthermore, the iECHO Platform was introduced in 18 ECHO TB Hubs to facilitate independently organizing TB Clinics and programmatic sessions with automated features.

ECHO TB Hubs

ECHO India is providing crucial capacity-building support to help achieve the goal of eliminating TB from India by 2025