Household insects are major public health threats in Iraq as they have close ecologic relationships with the environment and have a remarkable potential for harboring and spreading human pathogens. They are found in environments where sanitation is poor, the weather is hot, waste disposal is ineffective and housing is crowded, providing opportunities for contact with food, water and surfaces as well as places of human habitation. Domestic arthropods can be mechanical carriers of numerous kinds of pathogenic microorganisms (such as bacteria, protozoa, helminths and other pathogens) on their body surfaces, mouthparts or in their digestive tracts. Their potential vector species role is particularly important in the local communities where they have limited access to hygiene practices and spend a considerable time of day around contaminated domestic environments. In Iraq, many domestic insects (especially cockroaches, houseflies and some other synanthropic species) are commonly found around homes kitchens food storage sites bathrooms garbage and animal shelters. Through fecal matter, organic waste and sewage, these insects can obtain pathogens and then pass them on to surfaces used for preparing food and household items like spoons, dishes, knives or cutting boards; therefore exposing humans to contagion (Furtado et al., Beyond their mechanical potential, some insect species may also play indirect roles in the maintenance and transmission of infectious disease by acting as a marker for environmental contamination or perpetuating pathogen circulation within the peridomestic environment. Our study in Iraq demonstrates the need to further elucidate the epidemiological significance of household insects in order to enhance disease prevention and environmental health. Integrated interventions that involve sanitation and hygiene improvement, waste management, exclusion of structures harmful to ground water quality, household hygiene education and awareness for the community are needed in order to be effective. Regular surveillance of domestic insect members, coupled with microbiological and parasitological analyses, is required to elucidate their role(s) in the transmission of pathogens and to provide evidence for effective public health measures. Focus on this issue is especially important in urban and rural-to-urban vulnerable populations (i.e., children, elderly).