Tropical diseases: Global health meeting showcases resilience of field under fire

At a moment of monumental challenges for global health, thousands of researchers, clinicians and public health professionals from over 100 countries will gather in Toronto for the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).

The rich mix of symposia and scientific sessions will showcase the progress and innovation that continue in the fight against familiar foes like malaria, dengue, mpox, avian influenza, Ebola and neglected tropical diseases — along with emerging threats like the Oropouche virus and a disfiguring and sometimes fatal disease called noma. Speakers will also consider the impact of massive funding and policy shifts around the world on global health research and development while probing misinformation that has sparked a dangerous outbreak of anti-science sentiments.

This year’s meeting features an opening keynote from Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA. Dr. El-Sadr is founder and director of Columbia University’s ICAP global health program, which is staffed by 2,500 people fighting diseases in some 40 countries.

WHAT: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2025 Annual Meeting

WHEN: November 9-13 (Sunday to Thursday)

WHERE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada  

ONLINE: https://www.astmh.org/annual-meeting

ON SOCIAL: LinkedIn | #TropMed25

Early highlights 

• Fingers Crossed for New Cure for Drug-Resistant Malaria: Researchers will present the results from a Phase 3 clinical trial testing a drug that combines the medications ganaplacide and lumefantrine to provide a cure for malaria caused by parasites that have varying levels of resistance to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs). ACTs have been instrumental in driving down malaria deaths, but artemisinin resistance could reverse much of that progress.
   
• Living in a World Primed for Outbreaks: A special symposium on emerging and re-emerging viruses will examine the many factors working in various combinations — including climate change, deforestation, international travel, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation — to fuel new outbreaks of measles, yellow fever, chikungunya, mpox and Oropouche viruses. In particular, experts will focus on how, in this year alone, these forces can be seen in the global resurgence of measles along with an outbreak of chikungunya in the Indian Ocean region and yellow fever in South America. Related: A separate symposium will look exclusively at risks linked to the surprising spread of Oropouche virus. The disease, transmitted by tiny flies (aka midges), was once found mainly in the Amazon Basin, but has recently been detected in several countries in the Americas, including Cuba and Panama. Also related: A separate symposium will explore the latest developments with the spread of mpox (more below).
   
• Noma — Fighting the World’s Newest NTD: Noma is a disfiguring and potentially fatal form of oral and facial gangrene that is the newest addition to the WHO’s list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). A special symposium on the disease, which is believed to be caused by infections with a number of different microbes in the context of severe malnutrition, will bring together experts seeking to learn more about an affliction so poorly understood that many health care workers in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa have never even heard of it. Presenters will include noma survivor Mulikat Okanlawon, a health care worker in Nigeria and co-founder of the Elysium Noma Survivors Association.
   
• Showcasing Resilience of Field Under Fire: TropMed probes the challenges to global health that pervade the field today. Miguel Reina Ortiz, director of the doctoral program in global health leadership at Indiana University, and Maria Elena Bottazzi, senior associate dean at Baylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine — whose work alongside Peter Hotez on a patent-free Covid vaccine earned a Nobel Prize nomination — lead a symposium encouraging colleagues to consider a more assertive advocacy for global health priorities they call “bold diplomacy.” University of Saskatchewan virologist and media-savvy communicator Angela Rasmussen and David Morens, a long-time senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, chair a symposium on dealing with anti-science abuse and disinformation. There will also be special sessions on “navigating the fallout from U.S. disengagement” and the role of philanthropy in filling the gaps created by recent cuts to global health programs.
   
• New Insights on Mpox: Mpox experts provide the latest insights on the rapidly evolving threat from a virus that has caused a surge of infections in sub-Saharan Africa along with cases globally caused by a strain known as Clade 2. More recently, there has been a rising caseload in Africa involving a strain called Clade 1b that appears to be sexually transmissible. Researchers will present the latest data on mpox caseloads and their shifting geographic distribution along with the efficacy of existing and emerging vaccines.   
   
• Testing the Power of a New Malaria Vaccine to Fight Transmission: Researchers from the Gambia and Burkina Faso will present the final results from a clinical trial assessing how malaria transmission is affected by mass vaccination with a malaria vaccine called R21. Developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India, the vaccine has demonstrated strong efficacy in preventing clinical manifestation of malaria in African children. While children are the primary focus of the vaccine, the trial in the Gambia and Burkina Faso is evaluating whether mass vaccination of all age groups can reduce malaria transmission across entire populations.
   
• Melting Arctic Heats Up Health Threats: Two symposia will feature researchers working in the Arctic to identify health risks that could emerge as climate change melts Arctic glaciers and permafrost at an alarming rate — and human activities in the region intensify. The sessions will include new studies analyzing health impacts to Indigenous communities and assessments of whether the thaw could release “unknown but dormant pathogens” with the potential to become “Arctic superbugs.” Related: Researchers will provide new insights into the many ways climate change could simultaneously increase the burden of NTDs in low-income countries while creating economic and social challenges that will reduce their capacity to deal with them. 
   
• Championing the Value of mRNA Technologies: In the midst of a surge of misinformation around mRNA vaccines — and the abrupt cancellation of mRNA work funded by the National Institutes of Health — a TropMed symposium will focus on the extraordinary value of mRNA technologies for fighting health threats in low- and middle-income countries. Experts will consider how mRNA vaccine platforms can boost the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.
   
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) as Outbreak Early Warning System: One Health experts will present insights on deploying AI technologies to synthesize data on human, animal and environmental health challenges to detect patterns and interactions that can be an early sign of an impending outbreak. It will include a presentation on using AI to conduct malaria surveillance by analyzing mosquito sounds. Related: Researchers will report on their efforts to use large viral genomics datasets and AI tools to address key global health challenges, such as the need to accelerate vaccine and drug development for emerging threats, track the evolution of influenza and dengue viruses, and predict SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
   
• Ratting Out Rodent Risks to Human Health: No disrespect to the adorable rat chef in “Ratatouille,” but the fact is that wild rodents are common reservoirs for human threats such as hantavirus and Lassa virus. Researchers will discuss rising rodent-borne disease risks in Africa, Europe and South America and their link to climate change and the relentless expansion of human activities into forests and other natural ecosystems.