‘Nonscientific’ Count of Condoms Found in Swaziland Sewage Plant Hints at Increased Use

A "nonscientific" count of condoms found in the filters at the Ngwane Park sewage pumping facility outside Manzini, Swaziland, hints at an increase in usage of the contraceptive, IRIN/Reuters AlertNet reports. "Condom use has gone up 50% this past year," Marvin Simelane, a worker at the plant, said. According to Simelane, condoms, which are considered toxic waste, usually pass through the plant's first set of filters because of their size, but they often are caught in a second set of filters and identified by workers to be shipped with other solid wastes to a landfill where they are buried. According to health organizations, the findings are interesting, IRIN/Reuters AlertNet reports. "But there is one caveat," the director of an HIV/AIDS support group said, "Who uses Manzini's sewer system? I would think it would be middle-class and wealthier individuals" (IRIN/Reuters AlertNet, 1/5). Swaziland has one of the world's highest HIV prevalence rates (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/3).