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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate and devastating impact on women’s health, according to a report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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The report found that more than half a million women in the UK have been forced to wait for “non-urgent” gynaecological care. Waiting lists across the country are now 60% longer than pre-pandemic levels. This means that one in 20 women will now be waiting more than a year to receive gynaecological surgery, specialist treatments and even diagnoses.

Some of those hardest hit by these delays are women suffering with endometriosis, the chronic inflammatory condition characterised by tissue similar to the womb lining growing elsewhere in the body – in places such as the ovaries or fallopian tubes. An estimated one in ten women have the condition, many of which live with excruciating pain.

If left untreated or poorly managed, the condition can worsen. This can make it far more challenging to treat, and may have a long-lasting impact on the woman’s health – such as causing fertility problems or worsened pain.

Read the full article (written by Danielle Perro and Prof Christian Becker) in The Conversation here.