Marie Stopes International Australia (MSIA) is part of the global Marie Stopes International (MSI) partnership. MSI provides services in 37 countries and has additional support offices in London, Brussels, Melbourne and Washington.

The MSI vision is of a world in which every birth is wanted; children by choice, not by chance.MSIA aims to make this a reality by providing accessible and affordable healthcare services and products, including family planning and, where legal, safe abortion services. The clients are front and centre of everything MSIA does and the business model enables us to reach them effectively, efficiently and sustainably.

In Australia, MSI operates a sustainable business model that delivers a social benefit in line with the global mission and vision, and is at the forefront of sexual and reproductive health in three sectors – international development, health care services and pharmaceutical products.

International development programs – Australian organisation, Marie Stopes International Australia, provides support to programs in the Asia Pacific region. 

Dr Marie – they provide the highest quality sexual and reproductive healthcare services to Australians through the network of 15 Dr Marie clinics.

MS Health – they deliver vital reproductive health products and medicines through the not-for-profit pharmaceutical company, MS Health. 

Surplus income from Marie Stopes International’s clinical and pharmaceutical operations in Australia is re-invested in expanding and improving services in the Australian operations and in supporting the international development programs.

At Marie Stopes International, their aim is to ensure that every woman is able to choose for herself when to have children and how many to have. They do this by ensuring accessible and affordable healthcare services and products including family planning and, in countries where it is legal, safe abortion services for those who want them.

Their family planning services include education and provision of various short and long term contraception methods. These include condoms and the contraceptive pill, to long-acting methods such as implants and Intrauterine Devices (IUDs). They also offer permanent methods of tubal ligation and vasectomy. 

Their services are provided in clinics, through mobile outreach teams and through social franchises. They partner with a range of private healthcare providers through the BlueStar social franchise, providing ongoing training and equipment in order to expand access to high quality family planning and safe abortion services. Wherever and however MSIA delivers the services, MSIA ensures that the same high level of clinical quality is delivered.

But the organization does more than provide clinical services. All their programs focus on raising awareness and increasing understanding among the communities in which MSIA works.  They provide education, information and counselling on reproductive health and family planning to encourage healthcare seeking behaviour in communities.  They do this through community-based health advisors, peer-education, phone information lines, tailored education materials and other means appropriate to the specific community in which MSIA is working.  They’ve even developed radio programs and worked with local theatre productions to disseminate reproductive health information. This community based work is often integrated with the other service delivery points in order to extend choice and open-up access to services. 

Marie Stopes International provides services in 37 countries around the world, has more than 600 sexual and reproductive health centres, 540 mobile clinical outreach teams, and 9,000 team members. The Australian operation supports the country programs in the Asia Pacific region.