Prominent Scottish businesswoman, entrepreneur and founder and Executive Chair of The HALO Urban Regeneration Company and Macklin Enterprise Partnerships Investments, Dr Marie Macklin, is providing a boost to a major women’s health research project with the launch of #TALKENDO – a campaign to raise awareness of endometriosis and £1 million of funding for the ENDO1000 research project into the condition. The support will enable the recruitment of 1000 women with endometriosis to participate in the pioneering research.
At its launch event at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre of Reproductive Health on Monday 28th October, Marie will spearhead the campaign with a plea direct to the Scottish and UK Governments and to UK businesses to take endometriosis much more seriously and to allocate funds to help the one in 10 women who have the condition.
ENDO1000 is a UK-wide research project being led by the University of Edinburgh designed to accelerate discovery and advance data-driven research among 1,000 women with endometriosis. Endometriosis is a disease where cells similar to those lining the womb grow elsewhere in the body, causing chronic pelvic pain, infertility issues, excessive fatigue, gastrointestinal and urinary symptoms and depression.
Marie Macklin said:
“As part of a national awareness campaign, we have invited a group of UK women with endometriosis to become ENDO1000 ambassadors and support our £1 million fund raiser for this research project. It’s not just a healthcare issue, there’s a compelling economic argument with endometriosis costing the UK £8.2 billion in treatment, time off work and other healthcare costs. We are launching our first 10 women ambassadors on Monday, and we have a long list of women who want to join with our fundraising activities.”
At the #TALKENDO campaign launch, Marie will call for:
- Governments to recategorise endometriosis as a chronic condition
- Endometriosis to be given the same status as conditions such as diabetes which currently affects 6% of women and receives £875m of NHS Scotland resources annually for both men and women. Meanwhile endometriosis affects 10% of women and no actual budget figures can be identified.
- Major corporates and Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to take endometriosis seriously and encourage dialogue in the workplace about this debilitating condition
- UK corporates to allocate their own budgets to supporting research work into endometriosis and to become corporate ambassadors for ENDO1000 themselves
- UK PLCs to support research work into endometriosis and to become corporate ambassadors for #TALKEndo in support of ENDO1000
- Women to join #TALK Endo at ENDO1000 as ambassadors
The launch event is being attended by the first 10 #TALKEndo at ENDO1000 ambassadors, researchers, academics, businesspeople and representatives from sport and media. The campaign seeks to raise £1 million in order for the University of Edinburgh’s ENDO1000 research team to collect and analyse data and biological samples from 1000 individuals with endometriosis.
It is estimated that over 190 million women are impacted by endometriosis globally. In the UK, around 1.5 million women are impacted by the condition which has a significant impact on the economy and the future wellbeing of large proportions of the workforce. The disease costs the UK economy £8.2 billion per annum in treatment, loss of work and healthcare costs,
Marie Macklin, who was struck down by the condition in her early thirties, is founding ambassador and commissioned and funded #TALKEndo at ENDO1000 women’s healthcare campaign, added:
“It’s a national scandal that endometriosis is not recognised as the chronic condition as it affects 1 in 10 women. This is a moral issue and at its root are the fundamental issues of social justice and the character of country and how our governments support women. We’re about to change that.”
The research project is being led by Professor Andrew Horne and his team at the Centre of Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh. He said:
“I have had the opportunity to speak with many women over the years with endometriosis, and to hear the detrimental impact it has had on their everyday lives with little hope or treatment. We have a window of opportunity to change this through ENDO1000.”
Anyone wishing to become an ENDO1000 Ambassadors can start the conversation with the team by emailing: [email protected] or visiting its website at www.endo1000.com.
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