Overview

APOPS is the global conduit uniting patient, practitioner, academic, research, industry, and policy voices to lift the veil hiding the BIGGEST SECRET IN WOMEN'S HEALTH, pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Research estimates that up to 50% of women will experience POP at some point in their life cycle. Childbirth and menopause, two of the most life-altering events women experience, are the leading POP causal factors, yet no standardized screening protocol occurs in routine pelvic exams. The most common question women experiencing POP ask is why wasn’t I informed of or screened for POP sooner? Medically documented for nearly 4,000 years, POP remains shrouded in stigmatized silence due to embarrassing symptoms that remain "untalkable", such as tissues bulging out of the vagina, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and pain with intimacy. The lack of screening protocol validates the shortfall in curriculum provided in diagnostic fields of women’s health. APOPS is making every effort to address much needed evolution of POP awareness, screening, practice, and policy, to advance women’s health into the 21st century. Our mission is to engender pelvic organ prolapse awareness, to listen to and acknowledge patient voice, to destigmatize vaginal health, to encourage and optimize vaginal health empowerment, and to clarify and quantify POP quality of life ramifications. APOPS Immediate Goals are: `To listen to and acknowledge patient voice, `To destigmatize vaginal health, `To encourage and optimize vaginal health empowerment, `To clarify and quantify POP quality of life ramifications, `To bridge with key stakeholders and organizations to evolve understanding of and evolution in POP treatment. APOPS Long Term Goals are: `To advance diagnostic clinician POP curriculum to establish inclusion of standardized POP screening during pelvic exams. `To capture accurate prevalence statistical data which will only occur when all women are routinely POP screened during pelvic exams.