As globalisation has diminished the distance between the developed and developing worlds, it has highlighted the impact of global health issues on domestic health concerns and has underscored the reality of global health disparities. In the Canadian context, there is a need for Canadian physicians to have an understanding of medicine from a global perspective and to appreciate and understand the impact of global health issues on both international and domestic health care. Consequently, there is a need to create and incorporate a global or international health curriculum into general as well as specialty physician training programmes. This will provide future physicians with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to provide globally informed practice in domestic as well as international health.