President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday January 11 the launch of a national strategy to fight endometriosis, a little-known disease, first cause of infertility of women in France. It is manifested by heavy periods and violent pain. “We can only welcome the implementation of this strategy”, reacted Yasmine Candau, president of the Endofrance association, Wednesday January 12 on franceinfo. According to her, the fact that the subject is “taken into account” to “highest level of the state” is “a first victory”. Yasmine Candau called for “go further” on the training of health professionals, some of whom are still too unfamiliar with this disease from which one in 10 women in France suffers.
>> Endometriosis: what we know about this disease which affects one in ten women
franceinfo: Is this announcement from the president already a first victory for you?
Yasmine Candau : We can only welcome the implementation of this strategy. Our association has been working for this for 20 years and to see that finally, at the highest level of the State, the subject is taken into account. It is already a first victory. We are now awaiting the concrete announcements and action plans that will be proposed. We hope this will happen quickly and, of course, we will be present alongside the ministerial teams to work on the subject.
One of the concrete announcements is the generalization in each region of the reference center on endometriosis. Could that change things?
Yes, this will make visible, facilitate, the course of care for all people with endometriosis. This will facilitate their orientation and above all ensure that they are taken care of by doctors who know the disease and that is extremely important.
“A lot of women turn to us saying, ‘my doctor tells me I’m too young to have endometriosis’ or ‘I’ve already had a child so it can’t be that’ . Unfortunately it is.”
Yasmine Candau, president of the Endofrance association
to franceinfo
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In your opinion, should doctors learn more about endometriosis?
In September 2020, a decree was published which integrated endometriosis into second cycle medical courses, this is a first step. We must go even further so that all doctors, on leaving their studies, know how to recognize the symptoms of endometriosis, know how to diagnose it and offer appropriate care.
Emmanuel Macron spoke of an ‘endometriosis reflex’, does that mean that it is important to explain what this disease is, what the women who suffer from it experience?
Endometriosis has a very strong impact on the quality of life of people who suffer from it and it is important to raise awareness in all circles, schools and professionals. It is necessary to add the skills of occupational physicians, to draw their attention to the subject, because it is really the daily life of each affected person that is affected.
There is no treatment today?
There is currently no definitive cure for endometriosis. The treatments are only aimed at minimizing the development of the disease, relieving the symptoms that women suffer from, but there is no definitive treatment. Research is an important thing to try to understand this pathology.
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