( CNN ) -- Bill Gates is putting out a call to inventors , but he 's not looking for software , or the latest high-tech gadget . This time he 's in search of a better condom . On its Grand Challenges website , the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is offering a $ 100,000 startup grant to the person who designs `` the next generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure '' and promotes `` regular use . '' It may sound like the setup for a joke , but the goal is deadly serious . While researchers call condoms one of the best ways to stop the spread of HIV , the virus that causes AIDS , getting people to use them is another story . The foundation wants to see something that will lead men and women outside of a committed relationship to stop and think twice before having unprotected sex . The startup grant could lead to $ 1 million in further funding . `` Male condoms are cheap , easy to manufacture , easy to distribute , and available globally , including in resource-poor settings , through numerous well-developed distribution channels , '' the foundation says . Nevertheless , many people are reluctant to use them because they complain that prophylactics interfere with pleasure and intimacy . This creates `` a trade-off that many men find unacceptable , '' the foundation notes . Contraception , by the numbers . In some places and cultures , condom use is often seen as a sign that a man has AIDS , and many women wo n't sleep with such men . Female condoms are even more difficult to use and women are often afraid to suggest using them . `` Any advance or new design that gets people to use condoms would be a big plus , '' Dr. Anthony Fauci , head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the world 's leading AIDS researchers , said in an interview with CNN . He says great strides have been made in treating HIV infection in Africa , but for every person who is treated two more become newly infected . The numbers are indeed startling : 34 million people in the world are living with HIV , according the 2012 UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report . About half of them do n't know they 're infected , according to Fauci . That problem exists in the U.S. as well , particularly in minority communities . `` Although African-Americans comprise 12 % of the population , they account for 45 % of all new HIV infections nationwide and 65 % of all new infections among women , '' Fauci said previously . `` A substantial portion of newly infected African-Americans are bisexual and homosexual men . '' The Gates Foundation hopes that `` new concept designs with new materials can be prototyped and tested quickly . '' `` Large-scale human clinical trials are not required , '' it adds . `` Manufacturing capacity , marketing , and distribution channels are already in place . '' But building a better condom may not be as easy as it seems . Some sources say the first recorded use of a condom-like sheath was in Egypt in 1350 B.C. , and people have been complaining about it -- and trying to improve on it -- ever since . Condom sense : Designing the New York City condom .
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issues $ 100,000 challenge . Not widely available ; goal is to create one that people will actually want to use . Use continues to grow in Europe and in U.S. minority communities . New design would not need extensive clinical testing , foundation says .