Below are the latest facts and figures about endometriosis in Africa
- 10% of women worldwide have endometriosis, that’s about 176 million women.
- The prevalence of endometriosis in women with infertility is as high as 30-50%.
- Lack of awareness of endometriosis as a potentially important health problem among African–Indigenous women leads to the record of few cases.
- On average, it takes 7.5 years from onset of symptoms to get a diagnosis.
- In African–American women, the laparoscopic prevalence of endometriosis in patients aged 18–40 years with pain, infertility, menstrual disorders or benign gynecological conditions was 23%, suggesting that endometriosis is also a frequent condition in African women of younger age
- Endometriosis contributes to more than 100,000 hysterectomies each year
- Lack of research interest in endometriosis among gynecologists in Africa leads to record of few cases in Africa
- The cause of endometriosis is unknown and there is no definite cure.