Period poverty is the lack of access to period products, education and facilities, according to Share the Dignity, and can impact women's health, ability to receive an education and other factors.

Researchers at Queensland's University of Technology have found Australia still has a way to go to help all women find access to sanitary products.

It follows the announcement this week that Scotland will become the first country in the world to make period products free.

Australian students will soon have access to free period products at school after most state and territory governments committed to rolling out period vending machines.

But beyond the education system, there is little support for women and girls who need access to affordable period products.

QUT researcher Dr Ruth Knight teamed up with not-for-profit company Share the Dignity to reveal how periods affect the lives of young people, and the results were heart-breaking, she said.

More than half of the tertiary students and employees surveyed found it hard to purchase period products, and one in 10 said they struggled with it every month.

More than 60 per cent of school students and young women had worn a tampon or pad for more than four hours because they couldn't access pads or tampons, risking infections.

"Girls and women who can't afford them will turn to other solutions, which are not always healthy or hygienic, and that is putting people's menstrual health at risk," Dr Knight said.

Efforts to address period poverty have played out across the nation, with the rollout of free period products in public schools in NSW and Queensland, in line with other states.

"Scotland have been leading the way in this area for many years," Dr Knight said.

"We've been starting to see New Zealand, some places in America, and states in Australia start to provide free pads and tampons in high schools."

Free period product vending machines by Share the Dignity have been a gamechanger for young people, founder and managing director Rochelle Courtenay said.

She hopes the initiative would ensure girls weren't missing out on their education because their families couldn't afford period products.

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Outside of the schoolyard, the ACT is leading the charge.

Labor MP Suzanne Orr introduced the Period Products and Facilities (Access) Bill to the ACT parliament on August 4, which if passed, would ensure the government provided period products for free at accessible places across the territory.

Despite this, efforts to aid period poverty are held back by a lingering stigma and taboo around menstruation, Labor MP Suzanne Orr told ACM.

"Period poverty is quite pervasive across our community," Ms Orr said.

"Because of the stigma and taboo around periods, we don't actually have the open conversations we need to be having."

Continuing education around periods and what can be done to support women and girls at school and in the workplace was essential, Dr Knight said.