our history

Marie Stopes International Australia has a history which has seen the organisation grow from a UK-based sexual and reproductive health agency, to its own support office in Australia supporting 11 country programs.

Marie Stopes International was established in London in 1976, and grew out of the organisation originally set up by Dr Marie Stopes - the family planning pioneer who opened the UK’s first family planning clinic in 1921.

The modern organisation was co-founded by Dr Tim Black & his wife Jean, whose vision was to provide accessible family planning services globally. On returning to the UK from working in Africa and Papua New Guinea, Dr Black took over the ailing Marie Stopes Clinic in central London.

Within a year more clinics were opened, followed soon after by an expansion of our work to include clinics in Ireland and India. These were closely followed by clinics in Sri Lanka and Kenya.

From this organisation, Marie Stopes International Australia (MSIA) was established in Melbourne in 1998 and provides support services to countries in the Pacific Asia region.

In 2008 we celebrated our 10th anniversary of operations from Australia, and in these ten years we have established a wide reaching range of programs across the region.

Starting with just two country programs in Asia, we have now grown to 10 country programs, in places as diverse as Mongolia and Papua New Guinea. To find out which countries we provide support to visit our where we work page.

MSIA today provides support to 10 country programs, which includes over 55 sexual health clinics, hundreds of outreach services, and a number of social marketing and social franchising initiatives.

Social marketing is a cornerstone of the organisation, and it includes a number of successful contraceptive brands and initiatives such as; TRY TiME, SNAKE Condoms, TRUST and Vixen Condoms.

MSIA is a partner in the Marie Stopes International Global Partnership. This partnership gives MSIA the experience and support of an organisation which has been delivering sexual and reproductive health services, in international development, for over three decades.

To learn about our most recent milestones visit our Recent Achievements section.