On January 11, 2023, Emmanuel Macron launched the first national strategy to fight endometriosis, a “everyday drama which would affect nearly one in 10 menstruating women in the world, i.e. nearly two to four million in France. Characterized by the presence of uterine mucosa outside the uterus, it can be particularly debilitating and requires appropriate care. And yet, still in 2023, the taboo is just beginning to lift and it remains difficult to obtain a reliable diagnosis.
“Endometriosis is not a women’s problem, it’s a social problemhad then declared the President of the Republic. The national strategy we are launching brings hope for a better quality of life for millions of girls and women.“The latter was based on three goals : investment in research, the definition of an accessible course for all patients and the development of an “endometriosis reflex” to make the disease better known.
But a year later, where is this strategy? “There are still things to do, but since this speech we have observed a dynamic that did not yet exist.“, says the surgeon-gynecologist Benjamin Merlot at the Figarowho greets “a political will that was not just a flash in the pan“.
At the regional level, access to diagnostics continues to be accelerated thanks to the training of primary caregivers (general practitioner, midwife, gynecologist), who will then be able to redirect the patient according to the intensity of her pathology.
Difficult to identify trained specialists
Despite some improvements, the strategy remains difficult to implement. “Funding has been allocated, but we lack help to identify all the health professionals in the territory, in order to address them. But it takes a lot of time.”, regrets Professor Marcos Ballester, coordinator of the north-east sector of Île-de-France. All caregivers are not informed on the same scale: until 2020, endometriosis was not necessarily addressed in the curriculum of medical students and the disease is not always taught in midwifery schools. women. And yet, general practitioners and midwives are among the specialists who are most in demand.
Hence the need to contact specialized centers or local branches of associations such as Endomind or EndoFrance. In Île-de-France, two expert centers (Tenon hospital and Cochin hospital) offer a multidisciplinary care pathway with coordination with city doctors.
Fortunately, the awareness raised for a little over a year has made it possible to reduce medical wandering, which lasts an average of seven years today. “I hear fewer and fewer patients tell me about doctors’ speeches such as: “It’s in the head”, and I see more and more women diagnosed young”ends on a more positive note Benjamin Merlot.
