In a recent development, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation offers $100,000 to anyone who can come up with a viable proposal, for a next generation condom to reduce unwanted pregnancies and control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS.
The grant will be offered through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Program and seeks an inventor of the “Next Generation Condom” that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use.
“To overcome persistent health and development problems, we need new, game-changing ideas,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Science at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in a statement.
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Anyone from students to scientists to entrepreneurs can apply for the next-gen condom grant, and they must provide a “testable hypothesis.”
Meanwhile, 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 — of course, for a better global health.
However, female condoms also suffer from some of the same liabilities as male condoms, require proper insertion training and are substantially more expensive than their male counterparts.
Thus, the foundation thinks that a Next Generation Condom including a cheaper female condom might also help to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.