next generation condom

Got an idea how to come up with the "next generation condom" ? You may bag upto $1 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation . The foundation is offering $100,000 of initial funding, with up to $1 million of possible continued funding to whoever comes up with a viable proposal. Ideas for a better condom are being accepted at GrandChallenges.


The next-generation condom challenge is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's 'Grand Challenges Explorations' , a continuing initiative to fund programmes geared toward improving the lot of the world's poorest citizens.

Now, with the $100,000 grant offered through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Programme , they are hoping to find anyone — students , scientists or entrepreneurs — to reinvent the condom. "The primary drawback from the male perspective is that condoms decrease pleasure as compared to no condom. So a 'next-generation' condom would, perhaps, find some way to increase sensation to get men to use them more often — purely in the name of global health, of course," says a statement describing the requirements of the challenge.

"Female condoms, meanwhile, suffer from some of the same liabilities as male condoms, require proper insertion training and are substantially more expensive than their male counterparts ," says the foundation. Thus, the foundation thinks that a cheaper, simpler female condom might also help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.