After allocating $4.7m in 2018 towards a national action plan to tackle endometriosis, the health minister on Tuesday announced a further $10m towards researching and raising awareness about the crippling and chronic menstrual condition.
The new funding includes money to research non-invasive diagnostic testing, and to better understand the causes and underlying factors that lead to the development and progression of the disease. Australian women now experience an average eight- to nine-year diagnostic delay, and treatment options are limited.
There is no cure. Common symptoms include severe period pain, heavy bleeding, bladder and bowel problems, and compromised fertility. These symptoms often lead to mental health problems, relationship difficulties and workplace issues. Diagnostic techniques are often painful, invasive and sometimes prove to be unnecessary.
The condition has been so overlooked by policy makers and funders that in 2017 Greg Hunt issued an apology to women affected.
The University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute will receive just over $1m to develop a digital health platform for endometriosis research and support. The public awareness charity EndoActive will also receive $160,000 to disseminate its award-winning Shared Perspectives endometriosis videos, free of charge, to medical professionals and to women.
The EndoActive co-founders, Lesley Freedman and Syl Freedman, said Shared Perspectives included 25 evidence-based videos that help health professionals and patients to better understand the condition, and the funding would help spread those resources more widely.
“This is a dream come true for us,” they said. “It is crucial that patients have the confidence to navigate the healthcare system, which is made all the more gruelling for women who are living with such confusion about their illness, uncertainty about the future and, most of all, pain.
“Today marks a moment in Australian history where the veil of silence surrounding endo and women’s gynaecological health is lifted another inch.”
