Background
Malaria is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in malaria-endemic areas. Indoor residual spray is an effective intervention to control malaria, but high community-level coverage is needed to maximize its impact.

Methods and results
Using thirty-four two-stage cluster surveys (e.g., demographic and health surveys) and lot quality assurance sampling, indoor residual spray was estimated at the community level (i.e. enumeration-area) across sub-Saharan Africa since 2010. For communities receiving indoor residual spray a logistic regression predicted whether community-level coverage exceeded 50% or not. Household-level coverage was equitable both in terms of wealth and urban/rural, with poorer and rural houses more likely to be sprayed than richer and urban houses. Coverage of indoor residual spray at the community level is poor across the continent, with 54% of communities receiving the intervention not reaching 50% coverage. Having >50% coverage at the community-level was not associated with increasing the number of houses sprayed in the country.

Conclusions
Implementation and monitoring of indoor residual coverage at small geographical scales need to improve greatly to receive maximum benefit of the intervention.