Support the endometriosis research and treatment.
Italian Endometriosis Foundation
Research, Support, Care.
The Italian Endometriosis Foundation was born in 2007, from the non-profit Italian Endometriosis Association, to implement the research about this disease, to which are presently allocated funds, worldwide, about 200 times lower than those dedicated to other chronic diseases.
The goal of the Italian Endometriosis Foundation is to help and support women, disseminate information about endometriosis, assist the patients during their treatments and contribute to the studies and research on this theme.
The founder and president of both the Italian Endometriosis Association and Foundation is Pietro Giulio Signorile, a doctor and a scientist.
The Italian Endometriosis Foundation is a research institute registered in the national research register held by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).
Through its laboratory, the Italian Endometriosis Foundation advances the research on this disease with projects aimed at the development of early diagnostic tests, therapies and the study of the effects of endocrine disruptors (chemical pollutants) on endometriosis. It also has scientific collaborations with various national and international research institutes; besides, it has been recently invited at the German Federal Ministry of the Environment to report about the state of the art for endometriosis.
Furthermore, the Italian Endometriosis Foundation has participated in the discovery, confirmed by the international scientific community, of the disease origin (congenital), unknown until 2009.
In the last years, the Italian Endometriosis Foundation, along with the Italian Endometriosis Association, has conducted an intense institutional activity to improve among the citizens the information about this disease, give it the same dignity of other social diseases and, ultimately, reduce the differences between chronic and gender-related diseases, as well as the gender discriminations.
Activity of the Italian Endometriosis Foundation:
The scientific research conducted by the Italian Endometriosis Foundation has allowed us to find out the congenital origin of endometriosis and that some pollutants cause the embryonic alterations responsible for the dislocation of the endometrial cells. Moreover, the Italian Endometriosis Foundation has demonstrated for the first time, through a study on animal models, the relationship between endometriosis and ovarian reserve; the latter is often lower in endometriosis patients, causing infertility and/or early menopause.
Activities conducted by the Italian Endometriosis Foundation:
- Conferences;
- National information campaigns;
- National endometriosis day;
- Press conferences;
- Epidemiological studies Data on the Italian population;
- Committees of endometriosis patients to promote direct testimonials by women;
- Proposition of law “Regulations for the prevention and treatment of endometriosis”;
- Social solidarity actions;
- Communication initiatives to increase the knowledge about the disease;
- Memorandum of understanding between the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities, INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), INPS (National Institute of Social Security) and the Italian Endometriosis Foundation;
- First institutional spot on the disease in Italy (entirely funded by the Italian Endometriosis Foundation and created in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities), aired on the RAI channels;
- Translational research laboratory of molecular biology for endometriosis;
- Promotion and organization of national and international high-level conferences about peculiarities of the disease;
- Support, via the translational research, to the Italian Endometriosis Centre for the study, diagnosis and treatment of the disease and the first centre for medically assisted procreation (PMA Centre) dedicated to women suffering from endometriosis;
- Participation in local campaigns to support endometriosis patients;
- Participation in the scientific research for the formulation of patents for the early diagnosis of endometriosis and the medical therapy associated.
Activities conducted by the Italian Endometriosis Foundation in collaboration with the Italian Endometriosis Association
- First national survey on endometriosis (November 2006);
- Programme agreement with and patronaged by INPS, INAIL, IIMS (Italian Institute of Social Medicine) and Legambiente (January 2007);
- Press conference to present the first national survey on endometriosis (November 2006);
- Proposition of law, signed by the Members of Parliament Dorina Bianchi and Ermete Realacci, to recognize endometriosis as a social disease (February 2007);
- Press conference “Regulations for the prevention and treatment of endometriosis” (February 2007);
- National endometriosis day (April 2007);
- Memorandum of understanding with social services and social medicine institutes such as INAL, INPS and IIMS (June/July 2007);
- Agreement with the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities (June 2007) through a memorandum of understanding about endometriosis (presented in a press conference on 27 November 2007);
- Ongoing engagement with Legambiente for various collaboration activities (Conferences, Research Laboratory and Italian Endometriosis Association stand at the Legambiente Congress);
- Study Data on the Italian female population regarding endometriosis and work (September 2007);
- Beginning of a collaboration with the Italian Ministry of the Environment and participation in the Research Laboratory and the following conference on women’s health at the workplace (October 2007);
- Press conference in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities, INPS, INAIL and IIMS (November 2007);
- Conference on the women’s health at the workplace (December 2007);
- National information campaign in collaboration with the RAI Social Secretariat (2008);
- Affiliation with IFO (Hospital Physiotherapy Institute);
- Affiliation with INBB (Biostructures and Biosystems National Institute);
- Convenzione ACSC;
- Affiliation with CNR (National Research Council);
- High-tech endometriosis and infertility onference (March 2009);
- Discovery of the disease’s cause: “Ectopic endometrium in human foetuses is a common event and sustains the theory of müllerianosis in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, a disease that predisposes to cancer” (March 2009);
- CNR scientific protocol about pollutants;
- Basel scientific protocol;
- Accordo con IFA Dale CRM;
- National endometriosis campaign in collaboration with the RAI Social Secretariat (2009);
- INAIL laboratory;
- Memorandum of understanding with the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities (July 2009).