Guyana Safer Injection Project (GSIP)

The Guyana Safer Injection Project (GSIP), a task order under USAID-funded TASC2 Global Health indefinite quantity contract, was part of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) strategy to reduce the accidental transmission of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases by improving injection safety and reducing the number of unnecessary injections.

From 2004 to 2010, Initiatives and its subcontractors worked with health officials at national, regional and facility levels to identify and address challenges to safe injections and sharps waste management. Through its work in injection safety, our team and its government partners helped create a culture of safety, improve performance, and strengthen the quality of care in Guyana. GSIP’s efforts were strategic, starting with a national policy and guidelines to provide the mandate for technical, logistical, and environmental changes to protect workers, patients, and communities.

GSIP built sustainability into the project design, integrating Ministry of Health counterparts into all activities from start and concentrating on five overall themes: health worker safety, insulin use and disposal, health care waste management, rational drug use, and certification. After five years, the results were impressive. With project support, the Ministry of Health introduced national medical waste management guidelines and a worker safety policy. To guide training, GSIP developed and disseminated an Injection Safety Tool Kit, which Ministry of Health trainers have continued to support nationwide training for health care providers and waste management staff. 

To further encourage sustainability, in 2008 GSIP worked with the Ministry of Health to pilot an Injection Safety Certification process in five ministry facilities. The pilot was a success, and the ministry began full implementation of the process – by March 2010, the ministry had certified 14 sites as meeting national injection safety standards. In February 2010, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation became the formal custodian for the Guyana Safe Injection Project.

Project: Guyana Safer Injection Project (GSIP)
Funder: USAID
Prime: Initiatives Inc.
Dates: 2004-2010
Related Links:
     - Safer insulin needle use and disposal: International Journal of Infection Control
     - April 2007: PEPFAR Story of Hope
     - Kaieteur News Online: GSIP hands over safe injection project to GPHC