About us

The oral contraceptive pill is invented.

1960
Research begins into long-lasting contraception based on implants under the skin.

1966
UNFPA founded to promote the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity.

1969
The World Population Conference in Bucharest leads to the World Population Plan of Action.

1974
Marie Stopes International is established to provide accessible family planning services globally.

1976
Marie Stopes International opens its Sri Lanka programme – our first in Asia.

1983
International conference on Population and Development is held in Cairo and 179 governments sign up to the ICPD Programme of Action.

1994
The UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women is held in Beijing - the resulting Declaration and Platform for Action recognises that women face barriers to full equality.

1995
Marie Stopes International launches its UK call centre – our first eHealth activity.

2000
Marie Stopes International launches its BlueStar social franchising network - expanding the reach of our clinical services to under-served women.

2004
Marie Stopes International launches programmes in Senegal and South Sudan, extending the reach of our clinical outreach to more poor and vulnerable women.

2011

Our vision: a world in which every birth is wanted
Our mission: children by choice, not chance

Around the world, women trust Marie Stopes International to provide them with a full range of quality sexual and reproductive health services. Our expert teams offer a full range of methods of contraception, and provide women with access to safe abortion services (where legal) and post-abortion care.

Choice is fundamental to everything that we do. We respect the right of women to decide whether and when to have children. It’s about what is most suitable for each individual and for each couple; we give them the information they need to make their own choices.

Reaching the under-served

We’re committed to offering our services to the most under-served communities through over 600 centres, the 1,700 private providers who belong to our franchise networks, and our outreach teams – doctors, nurses and drivers - who travel out to hard to reach areas in more than 12,000 locations.

By increasing people’s ability to access sexual and reproductive health services where they live, we are able to help the 215 million women in the developing world who do not have access to modern forms of contraception. We’re part of the worldwide effort to reduce the 358,000 maternal deaths that happen each year, and to prevent the 20 million unsafe abortions that claim the lives of 47,000 women annually.

Working in partnership

We can’t do it all on our own. Partnership with others is a cornerstone of our work. We work closely with existing private healthcare providers, with governments, other aid agencies, academic institutions and NGOs. Together we deliver services, strengthen national health systems, provide training, improve health policies, and share expertise. All of this is essential for building sustainable services that will help people to safely manage their health, their families and their futures.

Our impact

We believe that we should be held accountable for the impact that our work has, not simply the amount of work that we do. We have developed innovative tools to do this, like Impact 2 – a mathematical model which allows us to measure the impact of our work and the wider social and economic benefits of offering access to family planning.

Using Impact 2 we know that our work in 2011 will prevent: