The GPG concept, discovered by the aid community in the late 1990s, can be a powerful tool in promoting global health because it marshals arguments of self-interest. It can be used to identify areas in which global collective action is needed, specify where the costs and benefits will rest and communicate to the public why spending to promote health thousands of kilometers around the world is not a waste of their tax dollars. Yet, we find that the GPG perspective has been a mixed blessing.