Malaria vectors in Angola: distribution of species and molecular forms of the Anopheles gambiae complex, their pyrethroid insecticide knockdown resistance (kdr) status and Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite rates

Background Malaria is by far the greatest cause of morbidity and mortality in Angola, being responsible for 50% of all outpatient attendance and around 22% of all hospital deaths, yet by 2003 only 2% of under-5s used insecticide-treated nets. Entomological studies are an essential foundation for rational malaria control using insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying, but there have been no published studies of malaria vectors in Angola over the 27 years of the civil war, to its end in 2002. This paper describes studies arising from a WHO-sponsored visit in support of the National Malaria Control Programme.