// SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: HEALTH
Robust collaboration with the World Health Organization, equitable access to innovation and the safe integration of AI into health systems can shape future health solutions G7 performance on health
17%. The highest was an unprecedented 72% in 2020, due to Covid-19. Other highs came in 2001 with 24% (and a new emphasis on biotechnologies), 2010 with 26% on maternal and child mortality, 2016 with 26% on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and 2021 with 24%. Attention then dropped to 17% in 2022, and 6% in 2023 and 2024. COMMITMENTS Since 1983 G7 leaders have made 624 health commitments on, inter alia, infectious diseases, the environment and hunger, the relationship between the global economy and health, research and development innovation, and antimicrobial resistance. G7 discussions have led to major initiatives including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The 1999 summit set the foundations for international cooperation on disease surveillance and response, and on strengthening health systems in low- and middle-income countries. From 1983 to 2005 the G8 (with Russia) made fewer than 20 health commitments (up to 13%) per summit. In 2006, this spiked to 60 (19%) and 42 (13%) in 2007. It dropped below 20 per summit again between 2008 and 2013, but the 2010 summit’s 12 commitments (17%) launched the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Another spike came in 2015 with 61 commitments (16%) and 85 (25%) in 2016. This dipped from 2017 to 2021, with no more than 11 per summit. However, the 11 health commitments made in 2020, at the onset of Covid-19, took 44% of the total. In 2021, the G7 made 89 (20%). Although the number remained high, it declined to 41 (8%) in 2022, 34 (5%) in 2023, and 23 (5%) in 2024. COMPLIANCE Members’ compliance with G7 health commitments averages 78%, just above the overall all-subject 77% average, as assessed by the G7 Research Group. Throughout the first 25 years of commitments, the highest compliance – 100% – came with those made in 1983, 1997 and 2012; it sank to 50% for 1999. Compliance for 2013 to 2015 was at or above 86%, but then decreased to 67% for 2016 down to the lowest ever with 25% for 2017. It remained below average until 2020 when it jumped to 98%. It dropped to 79% for 2021 and 75% for 2022, before returning to 100% for 2023. By December 2024, health compliance for the 2024 Apulia Summit averaged 94%. RECOMMENDATIONS The five highest health-complying summits averaged 43 health commitments and 92% compliance. The five lowest-complying
A lthough health is not a top priority for the 2025 Kananaskis Summit, it has been on the G7 agenda since 1979. G7 leaders should thus continue to implement strategies from previous years. DELIBERATIONS Since 1979, G7 leaders’ communiqués have dedicated 65,046 words to health, averaging 10% per summit. Only the summits in 1982, 1994 and 1995 did not mention health. From 1979 to 1999, G7 leaders averaged 3% of their words on health per summit, peaking in 1987 at 14% with leaders prioritising the HIV/AIDS epidemic and in 1997 with 11%, and otherwise not exceeding 6%. From 2000 to 2024, attention to health averaged
Joanna Davies, senior
researcher, G7 Research Group
// JOANNA DAVIES Joanna Davies is a senior researcher with the G7 and G20 Research Groups. She is a graduate fellow with an MA in bioethics from New York University’s School of Global Public Health. Her research focused on technology and neuroethics, health economics and resource conflicts. She looks at how legal and economic factors influence public health systems, including the environment. She is now pursuing her legal career in London, England.
X-TWITTER @g7_rg www.g7.utoronto.ca
88 // G7 CANADA: THE KANANASKIS SUMMIT 2025
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