Guyana

Initiatives’ staff supporting the Guyana Safer Injection Project:

Audrey Anderson, Chief of Party

As Chief of Party for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, Ms. Anderson provides overall leadership, management, and strategic direction to the project team, and works in partnership with the Ministry of Health, USAID and other PEPFAR projects. She has been with GSIP since the project’s inception, starting as a Training Advisor before being promoted to Technical Director and now COP.

Ms. Anderson is trained in Total Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance. She has more than 10 years of practical experience working as a laboratory technologist with specialties in Hematology and Medical Microbiology, and is skilled in preparation and delivery of various levels of training.

Jenniffer Bentick, BSc, Program Officer

Ms. Bentick is the Program Officer for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, and is responsible for coordinating and guiding GSIP assessments and field studies of effective injection safety practices. She is working to design and introduce a Ministry of Health program for recognizing facilities that reach safe injection and waste management standards. She also trains trainers – supervisors and health care providers – in health centers on safe injection practices, and conducts supervisory visits to facilities to monitor the work of supervisors, health providers and waste handlers.

Ms. Bentick has been an educator and quality improvement specialist in Guyana for over ten years. With her background in evaluation, training and environmental health, including a post-graduate diploma in education, she has contributed to significant improvements in Guyanese industry and education.

Paulette Henry, M.Sc., Behavior Change/Communication Advisor

As the Behavior Change/Communications Advisor for GSIP, Ms. Henry is responsible for working with the Guyana Ministry of Health to implement a behavior change and advocacy strategy around safe injection and waste management. The strategy is intended to raise awareness and generate support of policy makers at every level, and includes defining criteria to select and reward facilities implementing safer injection practices.

Ms. Henry has been a social work practitioner and educator in Guyana for more than 15 years. With her background in social work and sociology, she has contributed significantly in areas such as social research, mobilizing social capital, and social marketing and policy and legislative development. She has also facilitated training sessions in support of behavior change related to HIV/AIDS and solid waste management.

Mandy LaFleur, B.Sc., R.N., Training Advisor

As Training Advisor for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, Ms. LaFleur is responsible for developing and implementing a training strategy to improve injection and waste disposal practices and to create a monitoring program to assess the strategy’s effectiveness. In this role, she trains health care workers, trainers and supervisory staff, reviews and revises relevant curricula, and assists health facilities with record-keeping practices and the formation of quality improvement committees. Ms. LaFleur has 18 years of experience as a registered nurse/midwife, and developed and monitored a nurse training curriculum while serving as chief nursing officer at Davis Memorial Hospital.

Abbigail Liverpool, BASc, Technical Coordinator

Ms. Liverpool is Technical Coordinator for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, and is responsible for aspects of the project related to worker safety and waste management. She liaises with the Ministry of Health to introduce injection safety, develop effective partnerships and strong supportive systems for worker safety; provides technical support for the improvement of sharps waste management at GSIP-supported facilities; and assists with training and monitoring of health care workers in injection safety and waste management.

Ms. Liverpool previously worked for several years as a public health inspector in both Guyana and Canada, and has varied experiences in training and research, including two years teaching in the Guyana school system.

George Vaughn, B.Sc., Finance & Administration Officer

As Finance and Administration Officer for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, Mr. Vaughn is responsible for general oversight and coordination of all financial, administrative and operational functions of the project office, including developing and implementing policies, preparing local activity budgets, and managing the daily accounting functions. He is an accomplished accountant with wide-ranging experience in international project offices and local agencies and firms.

Roxanne Wharton, B.Sc., Program Assistant

Ms. Wharton is the Program Assistant for the Guyana Safer Injection Project, assisting all project staff with their administrative, research, and data compilation activities. She has more than 10 years of experience in office administration, including oversight of information management systems and financial records.