Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has donated $100,000 to fund scientists working on a thinner, stronger condom using nanoparticle technology.
The grant has been made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the department of radiology at Boston University’s School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center as part of an ongoing series of investments to “break the mold in solving persistent global health challenges.”
Researchers say that condoms have been used for around 400 years and are an effective method of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections and preventing pregnancy. But there is a stigma about condoms that they decrease sensation during sex, which scientists hope to solve with nanoparticle technology that will allow them to be made thinner.
The Foundation hopes that improved condom technology could help to limit the spread of HIV in the developing world. More than 33 million people are currently living with the disease, and over 30 million have already died of it since the first cases were discovered in the 1980s.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Stella magazine last year, Melinda Gates said she had wrestled with her Catholic beliefs before making her views on contraception public.
“It took me a couple of years, quite honestly. I knew it would be controversial. But you can’t turn your back on these women you meet,” she said.
“I use contraceptives. I believe in contraceptives, my friends use contraceptives. And so if I believe in this for myself – and for my daughters and other women – I said to myself, ‘How could I not speak out about this?’”
Access to contraception led to greater opportunities for girls, as preventing unwanted pregnancies allowed them to finish their studies, Mrs Gates said.
