Red Box – free period products

• What is the Red Box? A pack of free Red Box pads (20 BI COMFORT pads) or a pack of free Red Box tampons (16 BI COMFORT tampons)
• Where do you get the Red Box? In all BIPA shops in Vienna
• Who gets the Red Box? Girls, women and other people who menstruate and find it hard to afford period products
• How do you get the Red Box? You need a voucher booklet containing 3 vouchers for 1 Red Box per month. The cashier scans the voucher and you get the Red Box for free.
• Where do you get the Red Box Voucher? The voucher booklet is available at the following places:
  • Social Markets (Sozialmärkte) (for eligible persons)
  • Women’s healthcare centres FEM, FEM Süd and FEM-Med (for clients)
  • "First Love" counselling centres of the Austrian Family Planning Association (Beratungsstellen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Familienplanung)
    (for young people from 18 years of age who get counselling)
  • Youth centres (for young people attending youth centres)
  • Facilities for homeless people (for clients)
  • Facilities for refugees (for clients)
  • Facilities for people with disabilities (for clients)
  • Various social counselling centres, for example Wohnpartner neighbourhood centres (for clients)
• How often can I get a Red Box Voucher? Every 3 months
• Video: Step by step guide to get your Red Box (German)

Talking about periods is still widely taboo and period products are expensive. On average, women spend eur 3,000 on period products throughout their lives. But not all can afford this. The Red Box is a project to support them.

Project against period poverty

Using period products is a necessity and not a personal decision. There is no alternative. Women use about 17,000 tampons or pads throughout their lives.

People who experience period poverty, which means that they cannot afford period products, often use makeshift products such as toilet paper or rags. This is unhygienic and can lead to dangerous health impacts such as infections.

Feeling safe during your period is important for your physical and mental health. Not being able to afford period products can be debilitating.

City of Vienna cooperates with BIPA

The Red Box project is a measure by the City of Vienna in cooperation with BIPA. BIPA provides the Red Box period products for free.

The Vienna Women’s Health Programme (Wiener Programm für Frauengesundheit) works together with the City of Vienna’s youth centres, social markets, the women’s healthcare centres FEM and FEM Süd, the “First Love” counselling centres of the Austrian Family Planning Association, facilities for homeless people, facilities for refugees, facilities for people with learning disabilities, healthcare facilities, facilities for people with addictions, and many more. All these institutions and facilities are ideal places to reach low-income women and girls.

The facilities get Red Box vouchers and give them to all people who menstruate and need them.

How to support measures against period poverty

You can also buy the Red Box BI COMFORT tampons and the Red Box BI COMFORT pads. Eur 0.50 per pack sold is donated to fight period poverty.