Background: Cervical cancer occurs when the cells of cervix grow abnormally and invade other tissues and organs of the body. Most women are diagnosed in the 20s and 30s but the average age when they are diagnosed with cervical cancer is mid 50s. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, and knowledge regarding its cause and pathogenesis is expanding rapidly. Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer in women with an estimated 570,000 new cases in 2018 representing 6.6% all female cancers. Approximately 90% deaths from cervical cancer occurred in low-and middle-income countries.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was conducted which involved 246 women of reproductive age from 15 to 49 years, and their consent was sought and they were given questionnaires which was in Swahili version to those who were able to put answers on their own, however, those who were not able to write items into the questionnaires, items were read to them and the response recorded accordingly. The data was analyzed using SPSS.
Results and Discussion: Majority of the participants aged between 20-30. 17% of participants had not acquired formal education due to various reasons, poverty being one of them. Of 246 enrolled individuals, 41.0% of them were unemployed (house wives) regarding on the knowledge and awareness towards cervical cancer, 97% of them claimed to over heard about cervical cancer, and most of them 44.7% those have ever heard about cervical cancer got this information from the radio and television. Few of the participants 14.2% of them heard cervical cancer from the health workers which means most of health practitioners do not give much information to women especially when they visit health facilities. Despite all those who were aware about cervical cancer, many of them did not know the etiology, risks factors and symptoms. About the etiology of cervical cancer, 97.5% of all the participants did not know the exact cause of cervical cancer, this was attributed to poor health communication systems and inadequate information from the mass Medias about cervical cancer.
Conclusion: Findings from this study shows that awareness of cervical cancer was low due to poor health information system to the individuals and communities.