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The introduction of the CanMEDS method to qualify training and ongoing education for healthcare providers in terms of competencies has provided a clear framework for medical schools’ curricula. Different roles are outlined, and one of these is health advocacy. Physicians are accountable to society to use their knowledge and expertise to improve health. Even before the introduction of CanMEDS, physicians took responsibility for improving health by tackling issues in society that negatively affected the health of many; one obvious example is the provision of clean water and sewage systems to prevent epidemics of infectious diseases such as cholera. The role of the health advocate is now addressed within medical education in graduate and postgraduate medical training curricula. If they are to be really effective, trainers should provide proper role models on how to be a health advocate; even though each doctor does not have to become a politician to change the world, all doctors should look further than the individual patient in their surgery.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.