The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced a $600,000 Caribbean "twinning" program grant to Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. "This grant will support and foster the transfer and sharing of technology, skills and information on HIV/AIDS between the United States and the Caribbean," said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "With HIV infection rates in the Caribbean among the highest in the world and with migration between there and the U.S. continuing at a steady pace, efforts like this one are important to people in both areas."

Sunset Park Family Health Center Network, a Brooklyn community health center affiliated with Lutheran Medical Center, will administer the grant. Sunset Park plans to develop a single partnership with an HIV clinic in Trinidad; other partnerships between US and Caribbean clinics may follow in the future. The purpose of the partnerships will be to improve access to community-based HIV/AIDS care and support services, including preventing mother-to-child transmission.

The twinning program is designed to span four years, with $600,000 per year allocated for the first three years and $200,000 for the last year. Staff and experts will use state-of-the-art technology to exchange information and skills, thus reducing the need for travel back and forth to sites.

The Special Projects of National Significance program funds the twinning initiative. The SPNS program is part of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency Act. SPNS grants assess the effectiveness of models of HIV/AIDS care, support innovative program design, and promote replication of effective models.

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