Spur for anti-HIV cream

Saying that more than condoms and a vaccine are needed to prevent Aids, the Gates Foundation has pledged US$60 million ($110.17 million) to help spur the development of a cream women could use to protect themselves from the virus.

The money will provide the bulk of the funding for the International Partnership for Microbicides, a group set up last year to try to speed research.

Work is under way on developing a microbicide - a gel or a cream, described as a kind of "invisible condom" - that women and perhaps men could use to protect themselves against HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases.