Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has donated $100000 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.
There is a stigma about condoms that they decrease sensation during sex. Scientists hope nanoparticle technology 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 live with the disease, and more than 30 million have already died since the 1980s.
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, my friends use contraceptives. 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?'"
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