The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance at Westmead in Sydney is seeking 7000 volunteers for the biggest ever influenza clinical trials ever conducted in this country. Healthy individual only are required. Participants will be given either the vaccine or a fake placebo and asked to report all flu-like symptoms during the trial period.

The Centre is trying to make sure flu vaccines are still effective as the virus regularly mutates. Up to 15,000 people are hospitalised each year and about 1500 annual deaths are caused by a virus costing millions of dollars each year to the Australian economy.

If you are between 18 and 60 years of age, in good health and have had no flu vaccines in the past 6 months, and wish to assist then please contact the organisers on 1800 332 101.

Young & Single? Private Health Insurers have you targeted

In a market of more than 300,000 young single Australians with private health insurance coverage (27.5% of single Australians aged 25 to 34 for the 12 months to November 2007), Medibank Private continues to be the dominant player nationally, leading at 27.2%. Its largest competitor, MBF, trails at 17.6%, according to the latest Roy Morgan Single Source data.

Chart 1: Young Singles Private Health Insurance Brand Share

Period:     Rolling 12 months;

Base:        Australians aged 25-34, Not Married/Partnered with Private Health Insurance

Young Australians, and in particular, singles aged between 25 and 34 represent a key market opportunity for acquiring new customers, with over a million Australians belonging to this demographic with 70% not covered by private health insurance (November 2007, Roy Morgan Research). The young singles market is associated with lower likelihood of incurring hospitalisation expenses and private health insurers offer tailored health covers with premiums priced for these singles to entice them to join. In addition, those aged 25 and older are generally no longer entitled to be included under family health cover taken out by their parents or guardians, providing another opportunity to acquire new business.

Norman Morris, Global Finance Industry Director at Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Acquiring and retaining new customers, in particular younger customers offers a valuable offset against the higher health care expenditure incurred by ageing members. Other private health insurers such as BUPA Australia and Australian Unity have also developed their business towards the older age group of their customer base by offering services in the retirement living and aged care business.”

Chart 2: Young Singles Private Health Insurance Coverage

Period:     Rolling 12 months;

Base:        Australians aged 25-34, Not Married/Partnered with Private Health Insurance

Income-earning power continues to grow in this demographic group, but private health insurance coverage take-up has not kept pace. Approximately one out of every two single Australians aged 25-34 and earning $50,000 or more per annum are not covered. (November 2007, Roy Morgan Research).

Private health insurer NIB, which has recently de-mutualised, is targeting to grow its market share in the young Australians demographic, as competition continues to heat up in the private health insurance marketplace. Competitors such as MBF, who are likely to merge with BUPA Australia, would lead the way for market consolidation and create a significant national-level competitor against Medibank.   

But NIB faces a stiff challenge in gaining market share, with significantly larger players in all states holding a majority of customers across all age groups. At the total market level (age 14+), the competition is fiercest at the state-level with Medibank up against MBF in New South Wales and Queensland. In South Australia, Mutual Community has a significant lead over Medibank, whilst in Victoria, Medibank leads.

Table 1: Top 6 Private Health Insurers (Coverage)

* BUPA operates as Mutual Community in South Australia and the Northern Territory and HBA in all other states

Period:     12 months to November 2007;

Base:        Australians aged 14+ with Private Health Insurance; n= 20,481

For comments or further detail, please contact:

Norman Morris — Roy Morgan Research Global Finance Industry Director

The 2008 Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon takes off again this year for the 17th year in succession. The race will be held Sunday 18 May 2008 in the Sydney CBD and is a large event which usually fields around 5000 runners.

The race layout has changed this year and runners start and finish at Hyde Park. The race starts in College St then heads for George St, Argyle & Kent, around Hickson Rd and back down George St, then down Macquarie and the loop around Mrs Macquarie’s chair returning to the finish at Hyde Park north along Macquarie St.

The SMH sets out a 14 week on online training programme for beginners wanting to run the course

The men’s results have recently been totally dominated by last years winner Brett Cartwright who has won it 3 times to equal the 3 wins by the famous Steve Moneghetti in the 1990’s however Brett has been unable to nail the fast times set by Steve Moneghetti who’s 3 wins and a 2nd were all among the fastest times. The men’s race record is an impressive 61.11 set by Patrick Carroll who has also won twice. For the ladies, Anna Thompson has won it the last two years in a row. Both of these current champions are expected to defend their titles and hope to make history with the most wins in 2008.

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said today that the AMA is encouraged by the growing momentum by the Government to end alcohol abuse in all areas of the Australian community.

Dr Capolingua said the broader terms of reference of the Senate Inquiry into alcohol abuse would assist the Government to build on the initiatives contained in its National Binge Drinking Strategy announced earlier this week.

She said that today’s agreement by Australia’s six major sporting bodies to work together to address binge drinking among young people is another important step.

“While it is vitally important that we address the binge drinking epidemic among our young people, we must also tackle the crippling social and economic effects of alcohol abuse in all sectors of the community,” Dr Capolingua said.

“The AMA supports the Government’s ‘whole of community’ approach to the problem and would like to see the National Binge Drinking Strategy complemented with strategies that cover all forms of alcohol abuse in the total population, especially among the socially and economically disadvantaged.

“The Government should ensure that taxes reflect the total volume of alcohol in products, and products such as ‘alcopops’ that are targeted specifically at the youth market should be taxed at a rate that makes the retail price a disincentive for young people.

“Labelling on alcohol products must include information about health risks and clearly show alcohol content.  Alcohol advertising should not contribute to a culture that trivialises the dangers of alcohol.

“Alcohol education and rehabilitation programs must be expanded and made more accessible.

“As a community, we need to look at alcohol misuse and harm across all groups and ages, and examine ways to prevent the serious harm caused by alcohol abuse,” Dr Capolingua said.

According to the most recent estimates from the National drug Strategy, the total costs of alcohol abuse to the community are at least $7.5 billion per annum. This includes lost productivity, premature death, treatment costs, crime and violence.

A 2007 study by Alcohol Related Brain Injury Australia Services (Arbias) suggests that more than 200, 000 Australians suffer undiagnosed alcohol related brain damage, and that two million others are at risk due to the amount of alcohol they consume.

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Selects JDA Software to Drive Profitability and Support its Growth and Expansion Objectives . Leading Health and Beauty Retailer Expects Increased Sales and Reduced Stock Loss with JDA Software’s Merchandise Management System
 
Sydney and Scottsdale, Ariz. – March 12, 2008 – JDA® Software Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: JDAS) today announced that Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), one of Australia’s leading health and beauty companies, has implemented JDA’s Merchandise Management System-I (MMS®) to optimize its core merchandising system and support its strategic expansion plan. Australian Pharmaceutical operates more than 290 retail stores and pharmacies under the well-known brands Priceline and Priceline Pharmacy.

JDA Software was selected for its superior functionality to replace the retailer’s in-house merchandise system, which had limitations within its allocation, store grades, ranging and replenishment functionality. Australian Pharmaceutical needed a new solution that would support its strategic business objectives for opening additional stores and supporting more franchise pharmacies, which was not possible with the old system.

“Our original system did not support our current business and could not be enhanced. JDA’s Merchandise Management System provides the core building block of what we need to manage our business. It will also allow us to further implement enhancements to drive profitability, something that the in-house system could not provide,” said Simon Kilner, IT manager at Australian Pharmaceutical.

Australian Pharmaceutical implemented Merchandise Management as its primary system and is integrating it with existing best-of-breed solutions that support other parts of the business. Implementation was achieved in 15 months from assembling the project team to go-live. Australian Pharmaceutical expects to realize a sales increase brought about by better availability of products for the consumers, along with improved inventory efficiencies due to the new JDA Software solution. 

JDA Software and Australian Pharmaceutical conducted a series of Business Process Analysis sessions to discover how business processes would be addressed by the software. Kilner explained, “The process showed a good match between the system and the business requirement and identified a potential modification list. Key documents like systems reference guides and user reference guides were produced while extensive training and change management took place to ensure success for users.”

“We are interested in implementing more JDA products, now that the core merchandise systems have been implemented. We are considering incorporating JDA’s solutions for merchandise planning, analysis and trade event management,” added Kilner.

“JDA’s Merchandise Management solution enables companies to respond quickly to changes in the competitive environment and to achieve operational efficiencies, which will allow the company to profitably grow and expand. We are proud to support Australian Pharmaceutical Industries’ business objectives and provide valuable solutions that meet and exceed the needs and expectations of the industry,” said Rod Talbot, JDA Software regional vice president, Asia Pacific.