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BILLIONARE philanthropist Bill Gates says progress is being made on developing a “next-generation” ultra-thin, skin-like condom that could offer better sexual pleasure, help population control and be financed by first-world investors.Last year, the Microsoft co-founder offered inventors $100,000 in start-up grants to develop a “next generation” of super-sheath condoms through the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

It looks like “there are some technological materials that will be able to maintain a condom barrier with a very thin, thin layer”, Gates said on Thursday in New Delhi.

His foundation has given one grant of $100,000 to the University of Manchester in the UK to research a condom using a super-light conducive material known as graphene.

Another $100,000 grant has gone to the University of Oregon in the US to create a polyurethane condom that would create a seal around the penis and be less than half the thickness of the best condoms available now.

Scientists say they want to achieve a super-strength thin membrane for a condom to achieve a “barely there” feel.

The aim is to encourage more couples to use condoms, preventing pregnancy and helping avert the spread of sexually transmitted illnesses such as HIV and chlamydia.

The foundation said it could provide funding of up to $1 million to develop a condom that would “enhance the pleasure so as to increase uptake”.

Gates said first-world investors had little interest in developing medicines to combat such illnesses as malaria and tuberculosis, as they were not prevalent in wealthy countries.

However, “there could be a market for this (thin condoms) among well-off nations, which doesn’t happen with a lot of innovations”, he said.

Gates’ wife, Melinda, told the same forum that the foundation was also investing in developing a lozenge-like contraceptive tablet that would be placed in the vagina, and which “could put family planning in the hands of women”. — Associated Press