The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) program was created at the University of New Mexico in 2003 to build provider capacity in hepatitis C treatment in underserved communities. It takes advantage of proven adult learning techniques and interactive video technology (the ECHO Model™) to connect groups of community providers with specialists at centers of excellence in regular real-time collaborative sessions. The sessions, designed around case-based learning and mentorship, help local workers gain the expertise required to provide needed services. Providers gain skills and confidence; specialists learn new approaches for applying their knowledge across diverse cultural and geographical contexts. The outcome is improvement in the capacity of the local workforce leading to improvement implementation of interventions and health outcomes.

To date, the ECHO program has been applied to therapeutic interventions, e.g. empowering providers to treat patients with Hepatitis C. While these approaches have achieved tremendous successes, adaptation of the ECHO model for implementation of early detection and prevention is likely to lead to even greater population health benefits. Cervical cancer screening methods implemented in large number of healthcare settings in SSA is particularly suitable for the ECHO model.