Eating disorders affect as many as 10 million Americans, according to a 2005 study by the National Institute of Health. The institute says only a small percentage of these individuals will receive adequate treatment, which is a statistic some Saint Louis University students are trying to change through Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

“Most people know someone who has, or has survived, an eating disorder and they might not even realize it,” said Bethany Sirvio, a senior and founder of EDAW.

SLU’s third-annual EDAW will be held Feb. 25 to 29. Hosted by SLU Eat, the program will feature eating disorder screenings by the psychiatry center, a belly dancing class, a survivor panel and a keynote speech by Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body.

“[The universality of eating disorders] is the elephant in the room,” said junior and co-chair of EDAW Anna Poss. “We want to make people more comfortable with the issue, so that they realize they’re not alone and there is help.”

The awareness week, co-sponsored by the SLU Health Resource Center, will focus on the theme “Size Doesn’t Matter.”

“We want to encourage people to become more willing to talk about it and get treatment,” Sirvio said. “Every year, we have a survivor panel to show that this is not a death sentence.”

“We live in a culture that caters to this perverse addiction to perfection-and it’s unattainable,” Poss said. “The survivor panel is so powerful. It says it’s not easy, but [an eating disorder] isn’t something that can’t be fixed.”

Since its 2006 inception, EDAW has emphasized healthy body image, awareness about the prevalence and variety of eating disorders and how to reach out for help.

“The events all hit on different facts of eating disorders; there’s something for everybody,” Poss said.

SLU Eat, the university eating disorder awareness group, is working on becoming a year-round organization.

They currently give presentations to U101 classes and R.A. training and are in the process of developing an in-service for professors and faculty members as well.