Quarteira resident Marco Pereira is to walk the length of the EN2 – often dubbed ‘Portugal’s Route 66’ – from north to south of the country, to cast light on the disorder which according to latest estimates affects approximately one in ten women during their reproductive years (usually between the ages of 15 to 49), which is approximately 176 million women worldwide.
Endometriosis occurs when tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus — the endometrium — grows outside the uterus, most commonly involving the ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining the pelvis.
Avid walker Marco Pereiro aims to walk the 738-kilometre road in 24 days, starting Wednesday 26 September and finishing in Faro on 2 October.
The ‘Endocaminhada’ aims to raise awareness about endometriosis as well as the fact that, in Portugal at least, the illness is still lacking in terms of diagnosis and treatment.
“The EN2 is the longest road in the country and the third longest in the world; it is beautiful and emblematic, but I wanted to link a cause to it.
“After helping a group of women with endometriosis to organise a march in Quarteira, where I live, I proposed to walk for them, they accepted and I decided to embrace this cause”, he told Lusa News Agency.
Gynaecologist Tatiana Semedo Leite says in Portugal the symptoms of endometriosis still do not have the proper monitoring.
“There is a rate of about three to 20 percent of women worldwide affected by this disease, and in Portugal the numbers are similar. Often there is a delay in diagnosis of between 6.7 and eight years because the symptoms are not as painful at first or can be confused with symptoms of other organs”, she said.
Endometriosis is a chronic disease and the symptoms consist mostly of intense menstrual pain, pain during urination, or pain during intercourse, and is a condition that affects women at various levels.