* [Campaign Update]: We have sent letters to the Gauteng Health MEC, the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Oversight Committee on Health and Wellness and the parliamentary portfolio committee on Health, to which no one has responded to our concerns. We have also submitted the petition and all signatures via the Gauteng e-portal and are awaiting feedback.
** [Campaign Update]: On the 26th of March, in honour of endometriosis awareness month, we took your signatures to hand them over at the National Department of Health (NDoH) offices in Pretoria. We staged a picket with placards highlighting some of the issues women and young girls face when they present with symptoms of endometriosis. Officials from NDoH refused to take our memorandum and signatures claiming top officials were away on a G20 meeting.
Endometriosis is a systemic chronic disease which affects multiple organs [1]. Some girls present the symptoms from day 1 of their menstrual cycle, and it becomes an ongoing trauma month after month. Girls and women in their childbearing stage are affected. Hospitals and clinics downplay or ignore the symptoms and leave the patient to suffer without any medical care.
Most medical staff are ignorant of this disease. They misdiagnose patients or don't diagnose them at all. A study carried out in South Africa on factors contributing to infertility reported that the prevalence of endometriosis among the black population was lower (2%) than that of the White population (7%) [2].
- We want every local clinic/hospital to have an Endometriosis facility where patients are treated promptly and followed up the same way they prioritize other chronic diseases.
- We want access to the schools to raise awareness and help educators know and understand that "PERIOD PAIN" is not normal. It has dire future consequences if left unattended.
- We want the government to train more doctors who will specialize in treating endometriosis
.png)
