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Elize Nocente, a soon-to-be Grade 11 student in Vancouver, launched an official House of Commons e-petition calling for mandatory endometriosis education in Canadian high schools.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Elize Nocente is a 16-year-old on an unconventional summer mission: She is raising awareness about endometriosis to help young people identify signs of the disease sooner.
She feels strongly about how many patients with the inflammatory disease, in which cells similar to the one on the inside of the uterus grow outside of it, are often forced to suffer in silence and how education is needed so people can be diagnosed and receive medical support faster.
Ms. Nocente, a Vancouverite who is entering Grade 11 in the fall, is advocating for greater awareness because she suffers from endometriosis herself and aspires to be an obstetrician/gynecologist one day. She believes school-based education about endometriosis is needed to explain the disease, as well as lived realities. “So many girls have it,” she said in an interview.
Approximately one in 10 girls, women and gender-diverse people, or two million Canadians, suffer from endometriosis, according to the Endometriosis Network of Canada.
Ms. Nocente wants to raise awareness by getting the federal government to create a national strategy for education about the disease.
The disease can affect many organ systems and can have an impact on day-to-day activities, such as school and work. It can also affect mental health, a person’s social life, their personal relationships and fertility.
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Additionally, endometriosis carries an economic burden, including on the health care system, according to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).
And while the medical organization says it is extremely important for patients to receive a diagnosis to slow or mitigate disease progression and identify treatments, only 7 per cent of Canadian women have received such a diagnosis, the society said.
Despite its prevalence, endometriosis is one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood diseases, leaving many to suffer for years before they can receive proper medical care, according to the SOGC.
There is no cure, but it can be treated with medication, though some patients report their symptoms persist or recur. Some require surgical interventions to remove scar tissue and lesions.
The disease is usually diagnosed through medical imaging such as ultrasounds. The cause, or causes, of endometriosis are unknown.
A study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada in 2024, which involved a cluster-randomized controlled trial in a Canadian school district, found a brief menstrual health and endometriosis education program improved knowledge and attitudes among adolescents.
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As part of her push to raise awareness about the disease, Ms. Nocente initiated a House of Commons petition, sponsored by B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan. It has about 960 signatures and will be available online until mid-October.
The petition calls on the federal government to establish a national advisory board on endometriosis education and to work with provincial and territorial governments to support the mandatory inclusion of endometriosis education in curricula.
Ms. Nocente said if levels of education about endometriosis are not improved, patients will continue to wait to be diagnosed. In the meantime, they will skip exams and school while living with debilitating pain.
“We’ll just be closing our eyes to it,” she said. “That’s why this petition is so important in assuring that this missing part, this endometrial education, enters the school system.”