P1 P2  P3 P4  P5  P6 P7 P8 P9 P10  P11 P12
P13 P14 P15  P16  P17 P18  P19  P20 P21  P22  P23  P24
National Associations Round Up
CZECH REPUBLIC: 

October 20-21 

Obesitologie 2000 - 7th Annual Conference of The Czech Society for the Study of Obesity. "Recent Advances in Obesity Management" Brno.
Contact: the Society or Mrs. Daniela Vranova, Congress Centre, Výstavišt? P.O. Box 22, 647 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tel 420 5 4115 8651 Fax 420 5 43244277 Email: congressbrno@bvv.cz 

GREECE

The Hellenic Medical Association for the Study of Obesity has prepared national guidelines for the evalutation and treatment of obesity. The Association also has its own website, www.haso.gr linked from the IOTF's OONET. HASO's annual conference was on April 22 with speakers including Prof Bernard Guy-Grand, Dr Xavier Formiguera and Dr Marleen van Baak. 
April 27th is Obesity Day. HASO's Congress on Obesity will take place in Athens in February 2001.

ITALY 

Two societies UICO and SISO have formally merged to establish the Italian Society Of Obesity (SIO). The executive committee is Prof. O.Bosello (President), Dr.P.De Cristofaro (Treasurer),Prof. M.R.Bollea, Dr.M.Caroli, Dr.M.Cuzzolaro, Dr.V.del Balzo, Prof.E.Ferrannini, Dr.E.Mannucci, Dr.G. Marchesini, Dr.E.Nisoli, Prof.S.Verga (Councillors). Prof. Ottavio Bosello, will be the new IASO representative for the next two years. Contact Prof O Bosello: Tel:+39 045 8072537 / 8073472 Fax:+39 045 8072043 E-mail: bosello@borgotrento.univr.it

NORWAY

The Norwegian Association for the Study of Obesity is pleased to announce the 
publication of Body Weight and Health, a report issued by the National Council on Nutrition and Physical Activity, PO Box 8139 Dep. N-0033 OSLO, Norway (fax +47 22 24 90 91). The report may be downloaded on the internet at: http://www.sef.no or obtained from the National Council. 

The report was presented to the Minister of Health, Dagfinn Høybraaten, by Professor Christian Drevon, chairman of the writing committee, at a press conference in January, The report includes previously unpublished Norwegian data on prevalence of overweight and obesity, as well as data on secular trends in obesity, energy intake and physical activity. Other chapters cover the topics of regulation of food intake, health consequences of overweight and underweight, physical activity, eating disorders and guidelines for the treatment of obesity and overweight. Most importantly the report includes suggestions for prevention in children and adults that emphasize structural changes in society. These recommendations include reforms in zoning rules and city planning to facilitate physical activity. The report will be distributed to politicians and the media to increase focus on problems caused by obesity and will also be used for education of doctors and other health personnel.
Serena Tonstad

ARGENTINA/BRAZIL

Latin American Health Weight Summit - see conference listings. 

2nd Argentine-Brazilian Meeting on Eating Disorders and Obesity, Buenos Aires, August 25-26. Information: SAOTA. E-mail: Saota@pccp.com.ar

CHILE

August 25 & 26 Symposium in Santiago, Chile on Insulin Resistance and Obesity. 

URUGUAY

2nd Panamerican Conference on Obesity, 7th Rio de la Plata Obesity Meeting, 4th Uruguayan Congress on Obesity, Punta del Este
24-26 November 2000. Main subject: Treatment of Obesity and its metabolic complications: diabetes, hypertension and dislipaemia.
Speakers: Stephan Rössner, Philip James, Arne Astrup, David York, Shuji Inoue, James Hill, Claude Bouchard, Alfredo Halpern, Julio Montero, Xavier Formiguera.
 

Meetings of the IASO Executive Committee, of the FLASO Executive Committee and of the IASO Scientific advisory committee for the Sao Paulo congress of 2002, will be held. Information: Dr. Pedro Kaufmann. Fax +5982 9003300 e-mail: kaufmann@netgate.com.uy

Uruguayan Society for the Study of Obesity - New Executive Committee of the Uruguayan Society will be elected: June 2000

JAPAN

21st annual meeting of JASSO will be held in Nagoya City, Oct. 19-20. The chairman will be Prof. Yuzo Sato (Nagoya University). Around 700 are expected to attend.

AOASO

The second council meeting was held on June 29, 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Four member societies and five representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, attended. 

COLUMBIA

Colombian Association of Obesity and Metabolism has just celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding as a non-profit scientific body. It founded the Latin American Federation of Obesity Societies FLASO 10 years ago, and has been a member of IASO since 1996. Rafael Gómez-CuevasPresident ASCOM

 MALAYSIA

Dialogue on Health 1999 - MASO submitted a memorandum to the health minister on the increasing trends of obesity and the need to curb its prevalence through multi-disciplinary effort. Prof. Ian Caterson gave a plenary lecture to the 3rd Scientific meeting on Obesity – MASO’99 on "The cost of obesity- how, why and what to do". Several prominent Asian speakers Prof. Shuji Inoue (Japan), Prof. Julian Critchley (Hong Kong), Prof. Vichai (Thailand), Dr. Regalado (Philippines), Dr. Soegih (Indonesia), Dr Mabel Yap (Singapore) and Dr. Paul Deurenberg (Netherlands) presented papers. A two-and-half day camp was organized in November for some 25 obese participants at a seaside resort in Port Dickson. VLCD Forum - The Forum was jointly organized by MASO and Neucor Alliance (M) on the 26 September 1999, in Kuala Lumpur. The invited speaker was Dr. Cyril Weinkove. 

Proposal for the establishment of Weight Management Information Centre (WMIC): Initial meetings have been held among five professional societies namely MASO, Nutriton Society, Dietitian Association, Metabolic & Endocrine Society and the Heart Foundation Malaysia on the Roche initiative to set up the WMIC. 

PHILIPPINES

Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity, Inc (PASOO):

September 3 - 8, 2000: Obesity Awareness Week
September 8, 2000: 6th PASOO Annual Convention. Contact: Dr. Rosa Allyn Sy - rasy@info.com.ph

NAASO

NAASO 2000 Annual Meeting and Exhibition. October 29th-November 2nd Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Ca. CME Course October 28-29th The Westin Long Beach.

Program tracks are: adipose cell biology, genetic aspects of obesity, metabolic aspects, brain biology and neurosciences, ingestive behaviors-treatment and clinical prevention, population sciences and primary prevention. Abstract submission deadline June 30th. For further details contact NAASO secretariat (details and forms available to download from www.naaso.org )

SWITZERLAND

Given the controversy associated with the obesity management in Switzerland and the lack of clear knowledge from physicians about strategies to advocate to prevent the development of obesity and to treat obesity, the Swiss Association for the Study of Obesity (SASO) appointed a group of obesity "specialists" to develop a document summarizing key points on obesity treatment. The development and publication of the document has been made possible by financial support from Roche (Switzerland) whose help is fully acknowledged. 

The document "Consensus sur le traitement de l'obésité en Suisse" was published in the "Journal Suisse de Médecine" i.e Swiss Medical Weekly (referenced as "Schweiz. Med. Wochenshrift", (Dec. 11 issue), supplementum 114, 129, pp. 21S-36S, 1999). The German version is also available in the same issue (pp. 3S-20S).

The purpose was to define a comprehensive therapeutic approach which remains realistic in daily practice, without focusing on a quick "normalization" of body weight. The guidelines were conceived for practitioners with the objective of adopting a coherent approach to the treatment of obese patient, also focusing on the preventive aspect of obesity.  The editorial committee was made up of professors representing five universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich and Basle and doctors involved in human obesity research as well as medical practitioners experienced in obesity treatment.

The following chapters were covered:

- Epidemiology and cost of obesity.
- Definition and classification of obesity.
- Pathogenesis of obesity.
- Clinical evaluation of the obese patients.
- Management (medical, nutritional, psycho-behavioural
  drug therapy and surgery for morbid obesity.

It includes a bibliography with mostly international references. The document will be revised in the light of new research and the potential impact of these guidelines on medical specialties and general practitioners will be assessed in the future.

Dr Yves  Schutz  E-mail: Yves.Schutz@iphysiol.unil.ch