Background The burden of illness of cervical cancer has not decreased enough in developing countries. For that reason is important to improve coverage, access and effectiveness of cervical cancer screening programs. The objective of this paper is to analyze women's access to the cervical cytology programme of the Secretary of Health of Medellín (Colombia). Methods An analysis was made of 1,519 records of women from a cross-sectional study conducted in an urban area of Medellin (Colombia). Descriptive