ABSTRACT
Most economically advanced countries allocate a fraction of their gross national income to Official Development Assistance. About 10% of the donated amount is channelled towards health. Bilateral relations undoubtedly play a role in the field of global health governance. The largest amounts of resources budgeted as “global health” flow along bilateral channel, including both operations and research. Governments exercise political and economic influence on global health and its determinants through many other channels and domains of global governance, at both the multilateral and bilateral levels, including political and economic forums. The G7/G8 summits have mainly been devoted to macroeconomic issues, international trade and relations with developing countries, as well as to issues related to economic relations between East and West, energy issues and terrorism. The media give considerable attention to the G7/G8 summits, which over the years have become an opportunity for civil society organizations to attract public attention to the most relevant issues.
