Early Detection Saves Lives: Confronting Cancer Screening Challenges in India
Nov 20, 2024 • 5 mins readECHO India’s Cancer Mukt Bharat initiative has emerged as a transformative force in the fight against cancer. By focusing on capacity building, the program seeks to equip healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, oncologists, pediatricians, and Community Healthcare Workers (CHWs), with the skills and knowledge to provide early detection and effective care. Through collaborative events like the National Summit on Cervical Cancer and the National Roundtable Summit on Cancer Prevention, ECHO India brings together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to address these critical issues on a national scale.
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From Awareness to Action: Efforts to Eliminate Cervical Cancer in India
Sep 12, 2024 • 5 mins readECHO India has played a pivotal role in enhancing cancer care nationwide through its innovative 'All Teach, All Learn' approach. The ECHO model, which leverages case-based learning, shared experiences, and best practices, fosters a 'community of practice' among healthcare providers. This approach has been particularly effective in training healthcare professionals in cancer care, including early detection and screening.
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From Knowledge to Practice: Enhancing Beta Thalassemia Care Through Collaborative Capacity-Building Efforts
Aug 14, 2024 • 5 mins readInitiated in April 2023, the Post Graduate Institute of Child Health (PGICH) Noida and ECHO India’s collaborative capacity-building intervention aims at enabling medical professionals to adopt a standardized approach to treatment while emphasizing prevention strategies. The program is being implemented in partnership with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and National Health Mission (NHM) Madhya Pradesh.
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Combating Hepatitis C in India: The Imperative of Capacity-Building
Aug 14, 2024 • 7 mins readAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 6 to 12 million people in India are chronically infected with Hepatitis C [1] whereas the global tally stands at 50 million [2]. Hepatitis C is a bloodborne virus characterized by inflammation of the liver, which can result in long-term health implications, including diabetes, liver cirrhosis [3], and hepatocellular carcinoma [4] or liver cancer.
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Smoke Signals: Exploring Influences and Interventions in Youth Tobacco Use
Aug 08, 2024 • 10 mins readTobacco usage among young adults remains a pervasive issue, despite widespread awareness of its health risks. The temptation to smoke for young people often stems from a combination of social influences, psychological factors, and cultural portrayals. This article, authored by Dr. Anuradha Rai, seasoned educator and a pedagogical expert, explores the various reasons why young adults begin smoking, including the desire to appear "cool" and rebellious, the influence of peer pressure, and the impact of role models.
Empowering a Tobacco-Free Generation: Integrating Education and Policy
Jul 22, 2024 • 10 mins readDr. Sandeep Bhalla’s article highlights the urgent need to tackle tobacco use through effective education and policy integration. With tobacco causing over 8 million deaths each year, Dr. Bhalla emphasizes the importance of incorporating tobacco education into school curricula and national policies to empower youth and reduce smoking rates. By examining successful approaches from countries like Australia and Thailand, the article advocates for a comprehensive strategy in India, combining strong regulations, public awareness, and community involvement to build a healthier, tobacco-free generation.
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Cardiometabolic Syndrome in India: Building Capacities for Improved Healthcare Outcomes
Jun 25, 2024 • 5 mins readDr. Haresh Chandwani, General Manager of Projects at ECHO India, discusses the escalating prevalence of Cardiometabolic Syndrome (CMS) in India and its significant role in the rise of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Highlighting the importance of capacity-building initiatives, the article outlines ECHO India's efforts in upskilling healthcare professionals to effectively manage and prevent CMS. Through collaborative programs and advanced training, the initiative aims to enhance healthcare outcomes and reduce the burden of NCDs across the country.
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Oral Health Matters: Building Bridges to Better Lives
Apr 09, 2024 • 5 mins readOral health is multi-faceted and includes the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow, and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease of the craniofacial complex [1]. It impacts a person's quality of life and is crucial to general health and well-being
The Crucial Role of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Equipping Our Children for Life's Challenges
Apr 03, 2024 • 5 mins readEducation serves as the cornerstone of human development, aiming to empower individuals with the necessary tools to navigate life's complexities. However, amidst rising concerns surrounding childhood mental health issues, aggressive behaviors, substance abuse, and societal unrest, it's evident that traditional educational models may be falling short. This is where Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) emerges as a vital component, offering a holistic approach to education that addresses the fundamental needs of individuals in a rapidly changing world.
The Economic Burden of Beta Thalassemia Treatment in India
Dec 11, 2023 • 5 mins readThalassemia treatment in India places a notable economic burden on individuals and the healthcare system. The associated high treatment costs can be financially challenging, particularly for families from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds.
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Gender Equity and Justice: An Emerging ECHO Model
Dec 11, 2023 • 5 mins readThe ongoing gender equity program in schools has engaged teachers from across India representing diverse linguistic, cultural, regional, caste, and gender backgrounds. The teachers from government and private schools are representing the administrative, academic support and challenges of each segment.
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Unravelling the Challenge of Lung Cancer Amidst India’s Air Pollution Epoch
Nov 21, 2023 • 5 mins readAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is among the leading causes of death across the globe. In 2020, cancer accounted for over 10 million deaths....
ECHO’s Collaborative Efforts for Reimagining New Horizons in Improving Cancer Care
Jul 05, 2023 • 7 mins readTo tackle the cancer burden in India, several initiatives have been launched by the government and non-governmental organisations, including cancer screening programs, awareness campaigns, and establishment of cancer centres in different parts of the country.
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Beta Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathies in India: Understanding the Burden and Challenges
Apr 05, 2023 • 7 mins readBeta thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder characterized by reduced or absent production of beta-globin chains in haemoglobin, leading to anaemia and its multisystem complications. In India, beta thalassemia is a significant health issue, with an estimated 10,000-15,000 babies being born with the disorder each year
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Geriatric Health Care in India
Feb 20, 2023 • 3 mins readGeriatric care takes a person-centered approach, combining various aspects like physical health, psychological well-being, family dynamics, monetary resources, and more. However, despite being essential to the healthcare requirements of senior citizens, geriatric care is still a relatively new field in India.
Fostering Gender Equality: Roadmap Towards A Sustainable World
Jan 31, 2023 • 5 mins readGender Equality is a fundamental right as per the UN charter, and is also enshrined under articles 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution. However, despite progress made in the last decade, we are very far from our target.
Menstruation with dignity: An important step towards attaining gender equality
Jan 24, 2023 • 3 mins readMillions of women in India are deprived of basic needs when it comes to menstruation. Apart from poor hygiene and health, women often go through the menace of stigma, myths and taboos attached to menstrual health. It compromises their safety, causing additional stress and anxiety, and they are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified and a healthy way.
Technology: Ushering a Paradigm Shift in Healthcare System Strengthening
Jan 23, 2023 • 5 mins readTechnology and human interventions, both have their pros and cons, however, a holistic approach taking the best of both worlds is the way forward. There is a growing need for changing mindsets amongst healthcare professionals and policymakers so that they can shun hesitancy towards acceptance and adoption of innovative technologies that can improve healthcare outcomes.
Reducing Threats from Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) through Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Practices: A Public Health Perspective
Dec 23, 2022 • 5 mins readIt is estimated that in developed countries, 5-10% of patients admitted to acute care hospitals acquire one or more infections. In developing countries, on the other hand, the risk of infection is 2-20 times higher and the proportion of patients affected by HAI can exceed 25% [1]. In the last decade, large Ebola virus disease outbreaks, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome epidemic, and the COVID – 19 pandemics, have demonstrated some of the dramatic consequences of epidemic-prone pathogens often spreading through healthcare settings
Mpox Outbreak: Re-Highlighting Need to Future-Proof Health Systems for Potential Outbreaks of Existing or Novel Zoonotic Diseases
Dec 07, 2022 • 4 mins readPublic health agencies across the world are still evaluating the lethality and severity of the virus. Many countries failed to control the spread despite the fact that mpox virus originated in the 1970s and has been around for a while now. However, many nations including India have never experienced its outbreak in the past. While the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, only timely and strategised measures can prevent another widespread outbreak of another infectious disease like moneypox.
India's Fight Against Dengue
Nov 29, 2022 • 3 mins readAs winter is approaching most parts of India, the sudden yet prolonged surge in Dengue cases, a vector-borne disease, has left people alarmed. However, experts believe that the primary reason Dengue continues to be a peril is delayed monsoon withdrawal, a natural phenomenon that leads to a gradual decrease in temperature.
Enabling Mental Health Experts in Early Diagnosis and Effective Treatment
Nov 23, 2022 • 5 mins readMultiple studies show that one in four patients visiting a health service provider in India has at least one mental, neurological, or behavioural disorder. But most of these go undiagnosed and untreated, largely owing to a lack of psychiatrists across states and hesitancy among patients. This further results in increased cases of sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, burnout, and in extreme cases, even suicidal tendencies.
Empowering Nurses – The Largest Cadre of Frontline Healthcare Warriors
Jul 25, 2022 • 4 mins readNurses form the largest cadre of healthcare professionals and play an integral role in day-to-day patient care. However, nurses in India face several challenges, limiting their capabilities and morale.
ECHO Model Working Towards Addressing Sustainable Development Goals
Jul 20, 2022 • 3 mins readThe ECHO model has proven efficient, effective, and scalable across several disciplines in empowering global change, especially in the fields of health and education. Going beyond health and education, the ECHO model can be leveraged to create lasting change across multiple sectors and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Eliminating Tuberculosis by 2025 through Capacity Building and Continuous Service Delivery
Jul 20, 2022 • 3 mins readECHO 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.
Enhancing the ECHO Model
Jul 20, 2022 • 5 mins readiECHO is redefining the ECHO platform as an integrated technology infrastructure that will power the ECHO movement to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2025. It will enable the exchange of knowledge at a global scale with tools designed to engage a collaborative community, increase capacity, and make knowledge resources more accessible
ECHO India Goes Viral in Response to COVID-19
Jul 20, 2022 • 5 mins readEmpowered with knowledge gained through attending ECHO sessions, thousands of village healthcare workers, including nurses and midwives, went door to door in remote villages to educate residents on Covid-19 and how they can protect themselves and their families. While these healthcare providers did not have any personal protective equipment, they did their best to maintain distance and regularly sanitize their hands
ECHO India Enabling ASHAs, The Frontline Healthcare Warriors
Jul 20, 2022 • 4 mins readSince the very outset, ECHO India has focused on building up the capacity of ASHAs who are at the forefront of delivering public health services, especially across rural areas, where people struggle for access to basic healthcare services
All Teach All Learn : Capacity Building of Educators to Drive Better Learning Outcomes
Jul 20, 2022 • 4 mins readIn the era of virtual knowledge sharing, many institutions in education sector are looking to address the knowledge gap within their local communities. This has resulted in the ECHO model being identified as one of the platforms that enable capacity building for experts in the education sector. The ECHO model aims to bring a paradigm shift in the field of education, including the way the teachers and students engage and learn, through a practical learning approach. This will encourage the teachers to experiment with the practical teaching methods in the real classroom environment.
ECHO India’s Way Forward
Jul 20, 2022 • 3 mins readTo address the challenges at scale, Project ECHO and ECHO India have embarked on the ambitious plan to establish a robust digital infrastructure called iECHO. This is a result of many many deliberations on reimagining our role, reimagining the roles of our partners and most importantly the role played by the healthcare workers themselves. It required us to dig deep to understand what is the core interaction we are trying to solve and what will help us do that faster, better and at scale. How do we move from being a tool to an infrastructure
Celebrating Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Great Pods and ECHO India
May 16, 2022 • 5 mins readThis year, Airtable’s Commemorative Observance team is excited to wrap up Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month by sharing the stories of two amazing organizations out there powered by Airtable: Great Pods and ECHO India.
The Digital Future of Nursing and Healthcare
Apr 25, 2022 • 2 mins readThe future of healthcare will be defined by global collaboration and using technology to amplify our existing resources...
Continuous Nursing Education
Apr 25, 2022 • 2 mins readEquitable access to quality healthcare is one of the most dynamic challenges of the world. The Covid-19 pandemic showed the world that healthcare needs to deliver not only to those who have the means for it, but more importantly to those who lie in the margins of society and economy...
Infection Prevention and Control
Apr 13, 2022 • 5 mins readThe pandemic has been one of the toughest challenges for humanity in recent years. With the infection spread taking a toll on the economy, human life, and the overall morale of people, it has been a steep incline to overcome...
Empowering Assam Educators
Feb 23, 2022 • 5 mins readAccess to free education is a fundamental right of every child in our country. Over the past few decades, India has made ...
Learning from the Frontlines: Project ECHO Is Community Engagement
Feb 02, 2022 • 6 mins readDr. Kumud Rai, Chairman, ECHO India, discusses the importance of listening to frontline healthcare professionals to meet community medical needs more effectively
Cancer Screening in India: Sharing Knowledge to Combat Fear and Build Hope
Jan 15, 2019 • 6 mins readWhy me?” a woman will ask. “I’m a good person. I’ve never done anything. I am faithful to my husband and I practice good hygiene. Why is this happening to me?
