THE MSI STORY:
Five decades of expanding access to contraception and abortion
50 years ago, many women across the world didn't get to choose how their lives would unfold.
With limited access to contraception and safe abortion, couples had little control over when they had children. Unplanned pregnancies could derail their dreams.
In 1976, MSI Reproductive Choices started with one clinic and a handful of people who believed that things could be different. They sought to build a world where everyone could make their own reproductive choices.
This is a story of how thousands of people have come together to ensure women and girls can choose their own future.
It took brave pioneers from different countries to step up and build local MSI programmes, unafraid to do things differently.
It took donors and governments who believed in funding these life-changing services, and frontline healthcare workers who were committed to going the extra mile to bring sexual and reproductive health and rights to their communities.
Read on to learn how this global partnership of reproductive healthcare programmes has grown and evolved to support 300 million people with choice.
It started in a London clinic in 1976.
MSI founders Tim and Jean Black, and Phil Harvey, purchased this historic Marie Stopes clinic and hired a small team to provide contraception.
As co-founder Jean reflects, "So many women and couples did not have a choice in how many children they had. This realisation set into motion the beginning of MSI Reproductive Choices."
The first UK clinic on Whitfield St, London
From the start, MSI’s founders sought to expand access to this lifesaving, life-changing healthcare globally. They partnered with healthcare experts across the world to set up individual country programmes.
Sri Lanka and Kenya were the first to set up their own MSI programmes responding to local needs and challenges. Others weren’t far behind.
MSI has always been powered by locally led and staffed teams, rooted in their own communities.
Lilian, a healthcare provider at an MSI Kenya clinic
MSI’s global network of clinics was expanding access to contraception and, where legally possible, abortion services too. These were safe spaces where people could come for high-quality and non-judgemental care.
Over time our clinics have made a strategic effort to cover their own costs and create a surplus. Any money made from our now 400-strong clinic network is reinvested into MSI’s charitable work so we can reach more people.
Dr. Chowdhury, an MSI physician in Dhaka, Bangladesh
In the '90s, MSI’s work gained momentum, launching programmes in 15 new countries.
Demand for reproductive healthcare was fast-growing as more women and girls learned about options and benefits. MSI and our donors were dedicated to meeting this need and expanding access as far as possible.
Receptionist nurse Selena speaks to a client at the MSI clinic in El Alto, Bolivia
In Pakistan in 1992, Dr Mohsina Bilgrami set up an MSI programme from a room in her house.
She reminisces on this time and how she overcame huge challenges. She found that reproductive healthcare was not well valued or understood, but she was determined to get these services to women and girls.
Dr. Mohsina in an office in Pakistan in the 1990s
Our teams saw that people living in rural, remote places were often unable to access the information or services they needed to make informed family planning decisions. Women gave birth often and from a young age, without the ability to have time between pregnancies.
So MSI started outreach services, with roaming health teams travelling into communities by 4x4 or boat. They worked closely with community members to build awareness and offer life-changing contraceptive options.
To this day, we provide mobile health services in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and this is the only way some rural communities can access reproductive healthcare. Learn more about this work in Nigeria.
Nurse Ify speaks to a rural community about their contraceptive options
The first 25 years built the foundation. Then with increased donor and government support, MSI was able to scale to reach more women and girls at a faster pace.
We brought services to more communities and expanded into 11 more countries, from Australia to Zambia.
Justelina, an MSI client in Timor Leste
While MSI continued to expand services, we understood that a lot of people would visit their local public clinic or hospital for contraceptive or abortion care. But the staff weren’t always trained or equipped to provide it.
So we added a new approach to our work and started partnering with governments and the public sector to support health system strengthening. Our expert teams train public healthcare workers to provide quality contraception, and abortion where permitted.
This is building sustainable change – so these choices will remain available to local women and girls for the long term.
Now, we’re partnering with governments in 21 countries and supporting almost 9,000 public health facilities worldwide.
In the 2010s, MSI programmes launched in Senegal, Niger, and the DRC.
MSI is now made up of 36 country programmes across six continents.
With many people choosing to manage their own healthcare by visiting their local pharmacy or drug seller, MSI set out to ensure quality contraceptive products and medical abortion pills are available in these places wherever possible.
Over the years, we've developed and sold affordable products in pharmacies and clinics, supporting millions of women to manage their health on their terms.
MSI’s most recent country programme was launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there’s a significant lack of reproductive healthcare and maternal deaths are common.
As well as delivering services, the team in DRC are working hard to break down barriers and harmful social norms and educate young people about their reproductive rights. Read about the DRC’s Big Sisters, a novel approach to expanding care to adolescents.
Thérèse, an MSI Big Sister
MSI has supported 300 million people
The last 25 years has seen a massive scale-up.
That's because of data-driven, cost-effective decisions.
Plus many more donors, governments and partners joining our mission to expand access.
Working now across 36 countries, we’re supporting 70 women every minute with their reproductive choices, taking advantage of multiple approaches across private and public sectors – powered by our donors and 10,000 team members.
This may be about how MSI has helped to expand reproductive healthcare, but it’s never been our story.
It belongs to millions of women and girls, each with their own dreams, hopes and ambitions, who are choosing to shape their own stories by taking their reproductive futures into their own hands.
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