AIDS Policy Contract Signed

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico signed a contract with the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) yesterday that will direct AIDS policy in San Juan through the year 2000.

Technical Assistance

Mayor Hector Luis Acevedo is visiting Harvard as part of an association begun in 1987, when the HIID provided technical assistance in creating the San Juan AIDS Institute.

John J. Mullaney, HIID program manager of Latin American and Caribbean Health Programs, called the contract "one of several projects HIID has with San Juan geared to provide technical assistance to the municipality of San Juan and its Department of Health in managing the AIDS epidemic in San Juan."

High Incidence Rate

According to Mullaney, San Juan has the second highest annual incidence rate of AIDS per 100,000 population in the country, behind only Washington, D.C.

The contract Acevedo renewed yesterday was originally signed last year, to allow the HIID "[to provide] technical assistance to the mayor's office to provide a strategic plan for managing the AIDS epidemic in San Juan for the next 10 years," Mullaney said. He said that the plan will be "providing services as well as weighing legal and ethical issues."

The plan will link the screening of sexually transmitted diseases with HIV counseling and testing for the first time in Puerto Rico, as well as provide drug treatment.