Australia’s Total Fertility Rate Reaches 25-Year High

THE Productivity Commission’s recommendation on paid parental leave will work, so long as it is federally funded, the NSW Business Chamber says.... more

This paper critiques the Productivity Commission's draft recommendations for a national paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave scheme, and evaluates how well the stated objectives will be met.... more

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) and ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) on Tuesday plan to introduce a bill that would promote the adoption of a nationwide electronic health record system, CongressDaily reports.... more

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) says the state could save $95 million annually under a plan to centralize Medicaid prescription drug purchasing within the state Department of Public Welfare, but state Republicans say those savings would be offset by hidden expenses in the plan, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.... more

Unprotected sex with multiple partners among young staff in India’s call centers has emerged as a new HIV/AIDS threat in the country, Suniti Solomon, the researcher who detected the first HIV case in India in 1986, told the International Congress on Infectious Diseases on Saturday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.... more

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it had given approval for the first new combination vaccine for protecting 4 to 6 year old children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio diseases in one shot, made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).... more