President: 
 Professor Augusto D. Litonjua
  c/o Unit 25, Facilities Centre 548,
 Shaw Boulavard, Mandaluyong City,
 Philippines  Tel/Fax : 63-2-531-1278

Secretary: Dr. Mary Anne Lim-Abraham
IASO General Council Representatives:
Mrs. Sanirose Orbeta (1990-1998) 
Nutrition Therapy & Diet Clinic
17 San Geronimo Street
Magallanes Village
Makati City, Metro Manila
Philippines FAX: +632 8336402/3841 / TEL: +632 8336401

Treasurer Dr. Rosa Allyn Sy (1994-2002) 
ADDRESS: Termogenesis, Unit 105
Residencia 8888, Pearl Drive
Ortigas Center
Pasig City, Metro Manila
Philippines FAX: / TEL: +632 633 9807

NUMBER OF MEMBERS: 161

ADDRESS FOR NEWSLETTERS: 
Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight & Obesity, Inc.
c/o MedAsia Inc.
2307 Don Chino Roces Avenue
Makati City, Metro Manila
Philippines

Obesity was barely recognized as a problem in the Philippines in the early part of the 90's; surely not because it is non-existenet in this part of the world but because doctors & other health providers show not much interest in this issue. In 1994, the Philippine Association for the study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO) was organized to address the growing global problem of this condition which has been noted to affect the Filipino people. 

One of the projects of PASOO was to look into the prevalence of obesity in medical practice.
Through the generous grant & support from Servier, Philippines, Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua, president of PASOO, together with the officers and board of directors of the association was able to ask the help of randomly selected 164 general practitioners nationwide to participate in
our survey questionaire & project. A total of 1220 patients was included in the study which extended from April 1996 to Dec. 1998. 

Using the IOTF-WHO classification of obesity, the study showed that the prevalence
of obesity in medical practice in the Philippines is 21%, while 25% of  consulting patients are overweight. Unfortunately,  only 4 % of the subjects included consulted because of their weight problem & 96% consulted for other reasons. For those who recognized their weight problem, only 8 % of these subjects were doing something about it while 64% are not concerned and 28% did not give any answer.

PASOO had started this nationwide project to create awareness on the importance of this medical condition amongst our health care providers. To complement this project, PASOO had published some guidelines on weight management for its members and non-members & interested in the care of obese patients.