ZAMBIA’S fight against the spread of HIV is having unintended consequences: Used condoms are clogging sewage pipelines in Lusaka, the capital.
Every day, an estimated 3 000 latex condoms are flushed down the toilet and end up in pipelines connected to the city’s sewer system, Topsy Sikalinda, spokesman at Lusaka Water and Sewerage said.
Not all condoms make it to the treatment facility, contributing to the more than 20 blockages that have be cleared along the network each day, he said. “Condom, condom, condom, everything is just a condom,” he said, pointing to a pile of debris trapped by a steel gate preventing it from entering the plant. “It’s good that people are using condoms. On the other hand, it’s important to sensitise people on the proper disposal of them.”
HIV infects 14.3 percent of people aged 15 to 49 in Zambia, including about one in five in urban areas like Lusaka, the most popu- lated city of 3 million, according to the UN. About two-thirds of Zambian adults report regularly using condoms to prevent contracting HIV, said the Central Statistical Office in Lusaka, citing 2009 data.
Blockages in the city’s sewer system usually started when solid waste, such as household garbage and building materials, was thrown into open manholes in the streets, Sikalinda said. Thieves steal the pipeline covers to sell them as scrap metal. As piles of rubbish accumulate in the pipes, condoms plug the gaps between debris. – Bloomberg