Increasing access to information and services in disadvantaged and underserved communities.
Much of our work involves making sexual and reproductive healthcare services affordable and accessible to poorer and underserved communities in South Africa.
We aim to empower all women in South Africa to have control over their own health and fertility without fear of stigma, coercion and violence. We do this by providing access to information and services that empower individuals to lead healthier lives.
MSSA is a registered Non Profit Organization. We operate a cross-
MSSA is a member of Marie Stopes International, a UK based partnership with programmes in 43 countries. Technical teams in Marie Stopes International draw on information, experiences and research from around the world, to compile standards and training that ensure that MSSA maintains excellence in clinical quality, financial management, operational and monitoring systems, research and communications.
Service delivery in urban townships
In 2009 we launched ten Micro-clinics in poor and underserved townships in Gauteng and KZN. Micro-clinics are low cost prefabricated wooden clinics erected on a site provided by the local council. They offer contraception (all non-surgical methods), safe medical abortions, and testing and counseling for HIV and other STIs. Services are highly subsidized to improve access in poorer communities.
Behaviour Change Campaigns
MSSA implements comprehensive behaviour change campaigns through a combination of media and interpersonal communication. MSSA recruits, trains and manages teams of educators from communities in underserved townships and rural areas where there is little or no access to information about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Educators disseminate information through a series of coordinated presentations, peer education sessions and awareness raising events in schools, youth and other social groups, workplaces, and door-to-door campaigns. CBEs also build referral networks to link up individuals with service providers in their community.
Building capacity in the private sector
MSSA has launched The Blue Star Franchise Programme in rural towns in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. Blue Star is a social franchise model now employed in 10 developing countries to strengthen the capacity of existing private sector healthcare providers. Franchisees receive equipment, supplies, and training in family planning, safe abortion and infection prevention in return for agreeing to actively promote positive SRH health seeking behaviour and offering SRH services at reduced fees.
Permanent Access to Information
Dialing 0800 11 77 85 from anywhere in South Africa gives callers instant toll-free access to the MSSA Call Centre where they can access professional advice and informative counseling, from a trained nurse, on any aspect of sexual and reproductive health. Call centre operators give clients directions to the nearest MSSA centre, franchisee, or related service provider and in many cases can make appointments for the caller. The call centre currently receives some 500 call per day and will soon be upgraded to be available 24 hours a day and to include similar services via the web and by SMS.
Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
What is sexual and reproductive health?
Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is the state of wellbeing in sexuality and reproduction (childbearing). It implies that women and men are empowered to prevent, treat, and minimise the impact of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like HIV/AIDs, and empowered to choose if and when to have children and how many children to have. Importantly, it also implies that women and men are able to exercise these choices without fear of stigma, coercion or violence.
Why MSSA focuses on sexual and reproductive health?
MSSA focuses exclusively on sexual and reproductive health because it believes that it is a fundamental human right that underlies so many other rights of individuals in South Africa. Poor reproductive health practice directly affects a mother’s health, particularly young mothers, and undermines her opportunities and choices in life. Poor reproductive health also underlies poor nutrition, education and health in children. The devastating social, psychological and economic impact of HIV/AIDS on South Africans lives has been well documented and shows little sign of abating.
The Department of Health identifies sexual and reproductive health as a key priority area for health in South Africa. Despite sustained commendable efforts by the Department to promote sexual and reproductive health rights and provide family planning and safe abortion services through the public sector, many South Africans, particularly low-income South Africans in townships and rural areas, do not have access to information and services to enforce their SRH rights.