Objective To determine cervical cancer screening coverage and the knowledge, attitudes and barriers toward screening tests among women in rural and urban areas of Tanzania, as well as explore how they view the acceptability of the HPV vaccine and potential barriers to vaccination.

Setting A cross-sectional study using interview-administered questionnaires was conducted using multistage random sampling within urban and rural areas in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania.

Participants Women aged 18–55 were asked to participate in the survey. The overall response rate was 97.5%, with a final sample of 303 rural and 272 urban dwelling women.

Primary and secondary outcome measures Descriptive and simple test statistics were used to compare across rural and urban strata. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs.

Results Most women (82%) reported they had heard of cervical cancer, while self-reported cervical cancer screening among women was very low (6%). In urban areas, factors associated with screening were: older age (OR=4.14, 95% CI 1.86 to 9.24 for ages 40–49, and OR=8.38, 95% CI 2.10 to 33.4 for >50 years), having health insurance (OR=4.15, 95% CI 1.52 to 11.4), and having knowledge about cervical cancer (OR=5.81, 95% CI 1.58 to 21.4). In contrast, among women residing in rural areas, only condom use (OR=6.44, 95% CI 1.12 to 37.1) was associated with screening. Women from both rural and urban areas had low vaccine-related knowledge; however, most indicated they would be highly accepting if it were readily available (93%).

Conclusions The current proportion of women screened for cervical cancer is very low in Kilimanjaro Region, and our study has identified several modifiable factors that could be addressed to increase screening rates. Although best implemented concurrently, the availability of prophylactic vaccination for girls may provide an effective means of prevention if they are unable to access screening in the future.