It has been a cause of so much frustration - and nothing we have tried to do has ever really worked. As more and more consumers become involved in the organisation, the problem of effective communication and networking is going to be an even greater challenge. There are several obvious problems. Of course we don't have universal access to electronic mail or faxes. The phones are too expensive.
International post goes swiftly to some places, but crawls painfully slowly to others.
Different time zones and languages create communication challenges. If they join the Consumer Network, that's easy. However, many have not - and some never will. The circle on the right is all the members of the Consumer Network. Overlapping in the middle are the Consumer Network members actively involved, as consumers, in the Cochrane Collaboration.