OBJECTIVES: To provide information on the perceptions towards health promotion activities among an urban poor population of Malaysia. METHODS: The study was designed as a questionnaire based cross-sectional analysis. General public from the district of Jelutong which is located in the state of Penang, Malaysia was conveniently approached for the study. The questionnaire asks about perceptions and awareness towards health promotion activities. Descriptive statistics were used to ascertain demographic characteristics of the study participants. Inferential statistics were employed to measure the extent of association among study variables. All analysis was performed by SPPS v.16.0. RESULTS: Out of 480 respondents, a response rate of 82.7% was achieved as 397 responded to the survey. The study cohort was dominated by females (63.0%). Majority of the participants belonged to Malay ethnicity (88.1%). One hundred and seventy two (43.3%) never attended a health promotional campaign and mentioned lack of time and transport as potential barriers. Among those who attended such activities, one third was satisfied with the benefits of health campaigns and indicated an improvement in their quality of life. Approximately 90% of the participants demanded accessible locations, common language as mode of communication and complete medical checkup with professional advice at health promotional campaigns. CONCLUSIONS: Almost half of the study population never attended a health promotional campaign. General public should be educated and encouraged to participate in the health promotion activities. In addition, potential barrieers like lack of time and transport should be avoided by organizing such events with the reach of the community members.