The Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington has announced that it is a winner of the Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Debby Herbenick, co-director of the school's Center for Sexual Health Promotion, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled Development and Testing of the Female Pleasure Condom.
Grand Challenges Explorations funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Herbenick’s project is one of more than 50 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 12 grants announced Tuesday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
To receive funding, Herbenick and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 12 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas that included agriculture development, behavior change, and looking into animal and human health. Applications for the next round will be accepted starting September 2014.
In the current project, Herbenick and her team are working to develop an innovative female condom that is attentive to women’s genital anatomy and that enhances sexual pleasure. Their idea grew from research as well as many years of talking with individuals and couples throughout the world about condom use, HIV/STI prevention, and pleasure.
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