Thanks to the efforts of those leading the EndoMarch movement, endometriosis is now being recognized as one of the most potentially excruciating & destructive medical conditions on record, which affects an estimated 1 in 10 women, girls, and transgender individuals around the world. That’s about as prevalent as diabetes in women and works out to roughly 8-9 million sufferers in the U.S., and approximately 200 million worldwide.

Though you rarely here about endometriosis in the news, it is actually the third leading cause of gynecologic hospitalization and among the leading causes of the estimated 600,000 hysterectomies performed each year in the U.S. (despite the fact that a hysterectomy cannot actually cure endometriosis). There is no cure for endometriosis and no known cause.

Those afflicted with endometriosis can face a lifetime of severe disability & symptoms throughout the entire body, including incapacitating pain, organ failure, several repeat surgeries, infertility, increased risk for cardiovascular disease, increased risk for certain cancers, immune & endocrinologic dysfunction, kidney failure, and damage to multiple organs and tissues, including the bowel, bladder, ureters, diaphragm, muscles, musculoskeletal structures, nerves, ligaments, lungs, and liver. Due to the potential for such widespread, severe chronic symptoms, endometriosis is also one of the leading causes of school absences in teen & pre-teen girls.

Despite such alarming statistics, endometriosis receives only pennies on the dollar in federally-funded spending for research and public health awareness campaigns.

Inadequate Medical Care Causing Significant Harm

As a result of decades of under-funding & lack of awareness, those afflicted with endometriosis continue to receive grossly inadequate or inappropriate medical care that includes multiple failed treatments that don't work and/or cause severe injury from severe adverse side effects. The potential for significant harm is compounded further when you factor in diagnostic delays averaging 6-10 years or longer. Some have even gone 20-40 years without a proper diagnosis.

Why We EndoMarch

This is why each year on “EndoMarch Day” you’ll see thousands of endometriosis advocates organizing awareness events across the U.S. and in 50+ countries around the world, to get the word out that endometriosis is not just a ‘bad period’, but one of the most serious, potentially incapacitating whole-body diseases that people born with a uterus can face in their lifetimes.