Social accountability: at the heart of family medicine.

In 1995, the World Health Organization 1 formally defined social accountability in the context of medical education as the obligation of medical schools to meet the priority health needs of the communities they serve. This definition highlights the fact that the role physicians play in addressing gaps in health care delivery and health outcomes is central to the profession. This makes sense to the point of being nearly selfevident: a profession that has as its central role the treatment of the sick is by definition responsive to health needs. Why then have the World Health Organization,1 the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada,2 numerous faculties of medicine, and now the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)3 felt the need to focus attention on this concept in recent years?