ABSTRACT
The health care sector in Australia is a vast and complex terrain. Diverse networks of services, public and private practices, regulatory bodies, and government agencies jostle for position in a contested globalizing space. Despite the strategic focus that health care providers are adopting at the local level to engage culturally and linguistically diverse communities, studies indicate that many migrants are challenged by the health care system and finding their own means to gain health information. Over the past twenty-five years, research on the impact of social relationships on health has been broad and varied. It is premature to assume that physical social networks function in the same way as the types of networks that evolve on the web. Across the globe, the Internet is being used by a range of organizations and individuals to spread and access health and medical information across geographic, social, and cultural boundaries.
