Guyana is a small Caribbean country located in continental South America, with a population of over 735,000. Health indicators for the Guyanese people are relatively poor. In 2017, the physician to population ratio was approximately 2:10 000.

The University of Guyana medical school graduates 20-30 doctors per year, however, within two years of graduation, >80% of graduates leave Guyana to pursue further training elsewhere. In response, the Georgetown Public Hospital Institute of Health Science Education has started to create postgraduate medical education training programs to attempt to increase physician retention and patient care. 

To improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Guyana through the strengthening of a primary health care based system that ensures universal access to quality health services without discrimination.

To establish a sustainable, community-focused, Guyanese-specific postgraduate Family Medicine training program that will train physicians in the art and science of primary care.

Memories of Guyana

Beauty Sandhu, a uCalgary Family Medicine resident, shares her experiences from an elective with our Family Medicine program in Guyana. "My time in Guyana as a first-year Family Medicine resident was something I will never forget. I went to Guyana with an open mind and came back with a heart filled with gratitude." Read the full article.

Reflections on the Guyana elective

Driven by a lifelong desire to give back to society and help those in need, Dr. Maude B. Perras, a PGY2 resident at the Montfort Unit, has always had a strong interest in Global Health. Her previous experiences in under-resourced and marginalized populations as a medical student led to her interest in the Guyana elective, where residents spend one month working in community health centres and hospital settings in Georgetown, Guyana. Read the full article.

Sophia Health Centre in Guyana, a critical resource to pregnant teens, showcased to Caribbean First Ladies

By Dr. Krystle Fraser

As a means of addressing a high rate of teenage pregnancy in Sophia, a depressed community in Georgetown, Guyana, the Sophia Health Centre launched a teenage pregnancy support group on the 26th October, 2016. During the second week of February, Guyana hosted a CARICOM heads of government meeting and some of the First Ladies visited Guyana for the meeting. The First Ladies visited the Sophia Health Centre on February 16^th, where they met with some of the teenage girls from the support group. 

Suicide prevention in Guyana: Family medicine residents engage in national action plan

Dr. Tamica Daniels-Williamson and Dr. Krystle Fraser, two of the first-ever residents in the Family Medicine Training Program in Guyana, have successfully completed “Integration of mental health into primary care”, an online course developed by the WHO’s Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP). Guyana is among the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world, and the training of Guyanese physicians in the diagnosis and management of mental health disorders is a crucial step in a national suicide prevention plan. Drs. Daniel-Williamson and Fraser were featured in “Suicide Prevention in Guyana", available on the WHO website.

Questions? Please contact:

Dr. Taylor Lougheed
Co-Director, uOttawa-Guyana Family Medicine Residency Training Program
[email protected]

Dr. Krystle Fraser-Barclay
Co-Director, uOttawa-Guyana Family Medicine Residency Training Program
[email protected]

Dr. Tamica Daniels-Williams
Co-Director, uOttawa-Guyana Family Medicine Residency Training Program
[email protected]

Global Health Coordinator - uOttawa Department of Family Medicine
[email protected]