Johannesburg, July 4 (AP): At field offices in the African bush, at medical schools and research laboratories in Europe and America, doctors and scientists funded by Bill Gates' Internet millions are starting to make a difference on this continent all to familiar with poverty, disease and early death.

There is a revolution taking place in global health care, new well-financed initiatives that have saved millions of lives and promise to save millions more, said Dr Melinda Moree, the head of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

One of the driving forces in this revolution, said Moree, is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It was already the best-endowed private charitable foundation when its endowment doubled to about USD 60 billion when billionaire Warren Buffett announced June 26 that he was giving it 80 per cent of his fortune.

"We can't be very specific at the moment about where the (new) funds will go," Gates Foundation spokeswoman Jacquelline Fuller said from Seattle. "What is clear is that the foundation will have more resources available."

Buffet made sure the money will be available soon, stipulating his donations were to be spent in the same year they are received.

Since it was founded in 2000, the foundation has donated about USD 6 billion to finance programs and research projects to improve access to health care and the quality of that care in developing countries all over the world. Africa has been a prime beneficiary.