The government of Mali has tentatively selected the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) to advise that northwest African nation on rural health services in a four-year, multimillion dollar project, one of the institute's largest ever.

HIID will dispatch a negotiating team to Mali in the next few months to discuss the terms of the contract, John C. Eddison, associate director of HIID, said yesterday. "We're not home free yet," Eddison said, but chances look good that we will reach an agreement and be working in Mali this summer."

The project will be HIID's first attempt at a "purely public health program," Eddison said. In the past the institute has primarily provided economic advice to developing countries. More recently, the HIID expanded its assistance to include limited agricultural development in kenya and rural development in the Sudan.

If the contract goes through, the HIID will send advisory teams to three different areas in Mali, the western frontier, the south-central region, and the area by the bend in the Niger River. Team Training

The teams, which will include nutritionists, public health specialists and non-formal education specialists, form both Harvard and the educational Development Center in Newton, will concentrate on training villagers in preventative care and health education, Dr. Steven C. Joseph '59, director of the Office of International Health at the School of Public Health and leader of the negotiating team, said yesterday.

HIID teams also plan to work with peace Corps volunteers, some of whom are already stationed in Mali.

The institute hopes to provide the village health workers with the skills of "barefoot doctors, "Joseph said. "Simple activities make a lot of difference in the rural regions," where many deaths are caused by malnutrition, malaria, diabetes and diarrhea, he said. Drought Stricken

Mali, one of the most impoverished countries in the world, is suffering from the effects of severe droughts during the last decade.

Much of Mali's economy depends on agriculture, and much of the northern population is nomadic.