Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and is the leading cause of deaths in developing countries mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa with 83% of new cases occurring annually.
Objectives: To determine the knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer among reproductive aged women at Kigoma district.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Maweni hospital from August to September 2014 at the Outpatient department (OPD), Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCH), female medical, surgical and antenatal wards. An interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to collect information. Data was cleaned and analyzed by SPSS version 17. Chi-square tests were used to find out the significant differences between variables.
Results: Half 169 (54.5%) of participants heard about a disease while 141 (45.5%) have not. In case of screening program 176 (56.8%) of participants agree to screen if its free of charge while 12 (13.9%) of them disagree. About 13 (4.2%) of participants have already screened for cervical cancer while 297 (95.8%) not screened. There is no association between knowledge or awareness of cervical cancer and age, religion, occupation and marital status of participants (p-value= >0.05).
Conclusion: There is lack of knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer at the study area. There is a need for community education and sensitization on cervical cancer awareness and need for early screening.