Background: Cervical cancer remains an important cause of preventable morbidity and mortality among women, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where access to organized screening programmes remains inadequate. Rural women may experience disproportionately greater barriers resulting from limited health information, financial constraints, geographical isolation, and inadequate availability of screening services. This study assessed cervical cancer screening awareness, uptake, and associated factors among women in a rural community in South-Eastern Nigeria.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was modelled among 240 women using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The instrument assessed sociodemographic characteristics, cervical cancer awareness, knowledge of screening, previous screening practices, and perceived barriers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multivariable binary logistic regression, with statistical significance established at p < 0.05. The results reported here are based on a synthetic dataset developed for manuscript preparation.

Results: The mean age of respondents was 43.6 ± 11.8 years. Overall, 154 (64.2%) respondents were aware of cervical cancer, while 112 (46.7%) had heard of cervical cancer screening. Only 79 (32.9%) demonstrated adequate knowledge of screening, and 31 (12.9%) had ever undergone cervical cancer screening. Major barriers included inadequate information, low perceived susceptibility, cost, distance to screening facilities, fear of positive results, and embarrassment. Higher educational attainment, adequate screening knowledge, previous recommendation by a healthcare professional, and better healthcare access were positively associated with screening uptake (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate a substantial gap between cervical cancer awareness and screening utilization among rural women. Strengthening community-based education, healthcare-provider recommendations, affordable screening, and integration of cervical cancer screening into primary healthcare could improve uptake in underserved rural populations.