Background: General health awareness is less among the persons in developing nations compared to developed nations. Kerala is a state in India with a very good literacy rate and with a very low infant mortality and maternal mortality rates per live birth, but, there is increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases. Since health education is one of the key component in prevention of diseases in the community, so we conducted this study. Objectives: To assess the general health awareness among the rural population of Kannur, North Kerala, and India. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Pinarayi grama panchayath under the rural field practice area of Community Medicine Department, Kannur Medical College, Kannur. Convenient sampling method was used for the sampling. By visiting homes, data was collected from the adults aged >18 years by using pretested semistructured selfadministered questionnaire in local language and the descriptive statistics were analysed. Results: 300 persons were participated with a mean age of 58.62±10.25 years and 52% of females were participated in the study. The general awareness about maternal and child health, family planning and communicable diseases was average to good whereas about HIV/ AIDS and STIs was good. Awareness about tobacco and alcohol as noncommunicable diseases risk factors was good whereas importance of second hand smoking, regular blood pressure monitoring was poor. Conclusion: In our study, overall, the general health awareness among the study population was average to good. So, we recommend strengthening the existing health education component to create more awareness among the study population.

Keywords: General Health; Awareness; Rural Population; North Kerala.