Red Dot Day
A week of period-positive WhatsApp + IVR campaigning, on Menstrual Hygiene Day (28 May).
India still has 23 million girls dropping out of school every year over period stigma. Red Dot Day is our annual flag-plant: a one-week broadcast where SHELY uses the surfaces it already runs — WhatsApp Assist, voice IVR, and the Care app — to put period-positive content in front of millions of women and the people in their lives.
How it works
Myth-or-Fact on WhatsApp
Text RED to +91 90000 12345. Get one card a day for seven days: a stigma-busting statement with two reply buttons (Myth / Fact) and a doctor-written explainer.
Pucho voice line
Dial 1800-PUCHO (free, all India). 90-second voice answers to the top 50 period questions in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, English. No app needed.
Sakhi anonymous wall
Open Care → Sakhi tab. Ask anything; verified doctors and women answer, fully anonymous. Auto-translated across 7 languages so a Marathi user answers a Bengali user.
Campaign week
- 22 MayDay 1
Doodle takeover on shely.health + opt-in goes live on WhatsApp + IVR.
- 23-27 MayDays 2-6
Daily myth-or-fact cards. Sakhi moderation team on extended hours. Live Instagram AMAs with SHELY doctors.
- 28 MayRed Dot Day
World Menstrual Hygiene Day. Final card is community-submitted. School distribution of Pravah Kits begins.
We co-promote with sanitary-pad brands as paid-CSR sponsorship — sponsors get measurable IVR call volume + anonymous DAU on Sakhi as KPIs, not just impressions.
Common questions
What is Red Dot Day?
A week-long period-positive broadcast SHELY runs every May, culminating on Menstrual Hygiene Day (28 May). It is free, multilingual, and you can join from WhatsApp, a basic phone, or the Care app.
Why 28 May?
28 May is World Menstrual Hygiene Day — the date is a nod to the average 28-day cycle and the average 5 days of bleeding. Picked by the global WASH community in 2014.
What does the keyword RED do?
Texting RED to +91 90000 12345 on WhatsApp opts you into a 7-card daily drip: one myth-or-fact card a day, written by a doctor, available in 7 Indic languages. No charges, no spam — reply STOP any time to leave.
Who can join — only women?
Anyone. Fathers, brothers, husbands, teachers, students. The point of Red Dot Day is the people around menstruators, not only menstruators. Schools and workplaces can request the printable card-pack for free.
Is my number shared with sponsors?
No. Sponsors only see anonymous aggregate metrics — total opt-ins, IVR call counts, language splits. Your phone number and any Sakhi message stays inside SHELY.
I joined Red Dot Day in 2025 — the first time anyone explained to me why my mother had told me not to enter the kitchen. The doctor card I forwarded to my mother-in-law actually changed her mind.
Keep going
This campaign is one nudge. Here's where it leads on SHELY.
Get notified about the next campaign
One short email per week, plus a heads-up when the next women's-health campaign goes live. Indian voices, no spam.
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