Introduction Cervical cancer is the 2nd most common cancer in the world whilst the incidence of cervical cancer continue to rise in Sri Lanka. It’s important to assess the knowledge and the awareness on the cancer and the HPV vaccine. The Objective of this research was to assess the knowledge and awareness about the cervical cancers and HPV vaccine.

Methods A descriptive cross sectional study was done on 326 Sri Lankan urban and sub-urban females using convenient sampling who were in the age between 14–39 years using a self-administered questioner.

Results (62.9%) of the participants, were from the age group 21–29. (50.8%) had an advance level education, 30.4% had an undergraduate level education. (55%) haven’t heard about a vaccine which could prevent cervical cancer, 51.2% knows that cervical cancers are common in Sri Lanka. 193 (59.2%) did not know that HPV is the most common cause for cervical cancers. When considering occupational level (p<0.001) and and education level (p=0.001) it played a key role in determining the awareness of HPV vaccine on women. Respondents from the government sector with a good education had more awareness on the HPV vaccine. 28% obtained information on HPV vaccine through health care professionals or the Internet. Only 4% have been vaccinated and reason for not getting a vaccine is due to lack of knowledge. Only 11.3% knew about the correct does for the vaccine.

Conclusion It´s evident that the knowledge and awareness is very low in terms of the vaccine.