Vector-borne diseases continue to be a major burden among affected communities around the world, predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions.

Control of these disease vectors is intended to break the cycle of their transmission. Vector surveillance and control have made a major contribution to the control or elimination of many vector-borne diseases.

A recent global survey, however, showed shortcomings in pesticide life cycle management in all WHO regions, including inadequate regulation and quality control of insecticides; shortcomings were also identified in monitoring insecticide resistance, safety measures, storage conditions and waste disposal.

WHO published data on the global use of insecticides for the control of vector-borne diseases in several biannual updates. In 2011, a more comprehensive global assessment was conducted of insecticide use in targeted countries covering the 10-year period 2000–2009. The purpose of this document is to report the use of vector control insecticides over the period 2010–2019 in order to inform decision-making on vector control and insecticide resistance management and to inform the public about the use of insecticides in public health. Comparisons are made with the period 2000–2009.

In the conclusion, in the period 2010–2019, various active ingredients in several insecticide classes were used for vector control. The most frequently used in spraying operations (i.e. excluding ITNs), in terms of the amount of active ingredients, were DDT, malathion, pirimiphos-methyl, propoxur and bendiocarb.

Annual global use of insecticides in spraying operations was 3314 t active ingredient of organochlorines, 1625 t of organophosphates, 677 t of carbamates, 194 t of pyrethroids and 36 t of neonicotinoids. In comparison with data from the previous reporting period, 2000–2009, use of organochlorines and pyrethroids decreased by 25% and 53%, respectively, while use of organophosphates and carbamates increased, that of carbamates increasing from 30 t of active ingredient in 2000–2009 to 677 t in 2010–2019 and that of neonicotinoids from 0 to 36 t. During 2010–2019, use of organochlorines decreased further, that of organophosphates continued to increase and that of carbamates increased temporarily.

Insecticides were used mainly for control of malaria (61% of total use), followed by dengue (24%), leishmaniasis (13%) and Chagas disease (2%). The amounts of insecticide used for control of dengue may have been underestimated because dengue vector control is decentralized in many countries. Large differences among WHO regions were found in terms of disease-specific insecticide use, insecticide classes used and types of intervention used. The number of countries
that reported use of pyrethroids (excluding ITNs) for control of malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease decreased steadily during the study period, possibly in response to detection of insecticide resistance.

The largest amounts of insecticides used in spraying operations were applied for residual spraying, followed by space spraying. Use of ITN-kits for treating conventional nets was minor, as these nets have been largely replaced by factory-treated ITNs for malaria control. Use of larvicides remained relatively low, despite an increase in the contributions of bacterial larvicides, insect growth regulators and spinosyns. Insecticides were used for control of malaria, leishmaniasis and
Chagas disease predominantly by residual spraying, while insecticides were applied for dengue control mainly by space spraying and partly by larviciding and residual spraying.

Vector control insecticides have been used not only in spraying operations but also on a large scale in treatment of ITNs. The annual global use of pyrethroids in ITNs was 625 t active ingredient of pyrethroids during the period 2010–2019, of which 87% was for ITNs delivered to sub-Saharan Africa. ITNs accounted for 76% of the annual global use of pyrethroids for vector control

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