by RICKEY SINGH

RESPONSES FROM about 4 000 Barbadians on sexual practices of nationals of this country have started to flow into the offices of the Evangelical Association of the Caribbean (EAC) and its local affiliate, the Barbados Evangelical Association (BEC).

The islandwide "sex survey", the first of its kind initiated by religious denominations, was launched in July in cooperation with the Commission on HIV/AIDS in Barbados; Professor Brendan Bain, head of the HIV/AIDS programme at the University of West Indies (Mona Campus); and the United States-based World Relief Corporation.

While the initial target was sexual practices among Barbadian youth
of the Evangelical faith,
at least 50 local congregations, including non-Evangelicals, have participated in the survey.

Rev. Gerry Seale, general secretary of the Barbados-based EAC,
said Friday that based
on the forms being returned, responses
to the survey were "warmly encouraging"
and point to a shared deep concern on the issue among the Barbadian people.

He said Professor Bain of the UWI and the Barbados Commission
on HIV/AIDS were most helpful in developing the survey with the guidlines provided for the forms used in the exercise.

To involve pastors

Seale explained that once all the forms had been received and the findings assessed, the intention was to involve pastors and other leaders
of the participating congregations in a special consultation to determine effective means of implementing the processed information.

The findings of the survey are to be shared with the Office of Prime Minister Owen Arthur,
as well as the local HIV/AIDS Commission and the UWI's programme on this killer disease
that continues to take
its toll on societies across the Caribbean, reputedly the most affected region after sub-Saharan Africa.