About Endometriosis Australia
Endometriosis Australia is a nationally accredited charity that raises awareness, educates and funds research for endometriosis. Efforts have reduced the diagnosis time from 7–12 years to 6.5 years on average, but much work still needs to be done.
Endometriosis Australia has been promoting awareness, pursuing advocacy, producing resources and information, and highlighting the impact of endometriosis in the workplace since 2012.
Programs include fact sheets, education modules, and fundraising for research into prevention, diagnosis, better treatments, and a cure for the condition. Endometriosis Australia brings together medical, psychology, physiotherapy, allied health and complementary medicine experts to ensure the quality and accuracy of its programs. We aim to improve the community and medical understanding of the disease.
We are committed to empowering patients with the knowledge to be in control of their healthcare and promoting patient-centred care solutions.
We aim to:
Engage in a strong awareness campaign to inform, the medical community, business, media and the public about endometriosis.
Create and provide professional, educational programs for women with endometriosis, communities, schools, healthcare professionals, businesses and individuals involved in improving health outcomes for *women with endometriosis.
Represent the tens of thousands of women, girls and those assigned female at birth (AFAB) throughout Australia that have endometriosis.
Work with those health professionals who treat the condition and with researchers working to find solutions.
Raise funds for research in Australia into the causes, treatments and ultimately prevention of endometriosis.
Our People
Endometriosis Australia is proud to have a dedicated team of Board Directors, Clinical Advisory Committee members, Ambassadors, and EndoChampions.
This team has spent the last decade building endometriosis awareness in the broader community, creating fundraising programs to fund research and education, and more.
Our Beginning
After many years of being affected by endometriosis, both Jodie Dunne and Donna Ciccia believed that something needed to be done to make a positive change for girls and women with endometriosis in Australia. Jodie and Donna met by chance on Facebook in 2012.
They met for the first time on Skype, as they live in different states. In this Skype session, Endometriosis Australia was born, and the decision to build an organisation that would work to break the cycle of pain for the next generation was made. Five months later they met face to face for the first time at Endometriosis Australia’s first board meeting. Associate Professor Jason Abbott was approached to join the board of Endometriosis Australia to be the medical brains trust. After many years of working in the field, the Associate Professor is on the board to share his knowledge and expertise in the field of endometriosis and endometriosis research.
Having a daughter who suffers from endometriosis, Dennis Robertson was asked if he would like to be involved and help establish a charity that would be Australia’s leading national endometriosis organisation. Dennis completes the current board by lending his expertise in financial management to this charity.
The first face-to-face board meeting was in 2013, and now Endometriosis Australia is proud to have been serving the community for 10 years.
National Action Plan for Endometriosis
Endometriosis Australia is the preeminent peak body for endometriosis in Australia. Since 2013, the organisation has been leading the charge nationally and internationally in raising awareness and understanding of endometriosis. Endometriosis Australia lobbied for and supported the development of Australia’s first National Action Plan for Endometriosis (NAPE), aimed at improving patient and medical community understanding of the disease. This was a continuation of the organisation driving the first discussion of endometriosis in Parliament in 2017.
However, despite the growing awareness of endometriosis, the community and many health professionals lack a genuine understanding of the life defining disease, which affects 1 in 7 women, girls and those assigned female at birth (AFAB), 14% of the population and often remains after pregnancy, hysterectomy and post menopause.
There is a delay in diagnosis, averaging 6.5 years. This is due to girls and *women normalising symptoms due to the social norms relating to menstrual health. Doctors also normalise symptoms when women do finally seek medical assistance. Early diagnosis and treatment reduce the long term impacts of endometriosis and frequency of invasive treatments and fertility treatments.
Endometriosis has a larger impact than just a bad period; it can impact on every aspect of a *woman’s life without any definite answers. Raising awareness is the first step to reducing the delay in diagnosis across all age groups.
Education about menstrual health, what is normal and what is not is vital in younger age groups to break the current cycle of delay in diagnosis and flow on effects for the next generation. (Ballard, K., Lowtan, K., Wright, J. 2006 & Dessole, M., Benedetto Melis, G., Angioni, S., 2012)
Endo Yellow
Our logo has been taken from the Australian Wattle. When in flower, the golden wattle displays the national colours, green and gold. As one species of a large genus of flora growing across Australia, the golden wattle is a symbol of unity.
Wattle is ideally suited to withstand Australia’s droughts, winds and bush fires. The resilience of wattle represents the spirit of the resilience of *women with endometriosis. The plant itself withstands a lot of hardship and remains strong but has delicate, soft flowers. This strength and delicacy of the wattle reflect the strength and femininity of women with endometriosis.
Yellow is the international awareness colour for endometriosis.
Together, we can put an end to endometriosis.