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Half of the world’s population relies on biomass or coal as their primary household fuel source. The smoke produced from burning these fuels indoors presents a major health risk. Much work is being done to develop interventions to reduce levels of indoor air pollution (IAP). However, anecdotal evidence exists for smoke having a repellent effect on mosquitoes. This raises the possibility that interventions to reduce indoor air pollution might increase the risk of malaria and other insect-borne diseases. Eighty percent of the burden of insect-borne diseases and ninety percent of the resulting deaths are due to malaria and the report therefore focuses on this disease. A literature review was performed to assess the extent of evidence for smoke providing protection from malaria or mosquitoes. Although there is evidence that the smoke from certain plant products contains active compounds that have a repellent effect, no experimental evidence was found for a repellent effect attributable to smoke from domestic biomass fuels. The evidence base was, however, extremely limited, with only one published experimental study found. Bearing in mind the limitations of the evidence base the following conclusions are tentatively drawn. Smoke from domestic biomass fuel use is unlikely to provide significant protection from malaria and work towards reducing indoor air pollution should continue. The reduction of IAP through improved stoves, cleaner fuels and the use of fl ues to remove smoke avoids the possibility of increased mosquito entry that has been associated with eaves spaces.