Welcome to the 66^th ITM Colloquium!

This session will examine how environmental and ecological changes are reshaping the emergence and spread of infectious diseases worldwide. We will focus on the role of climate change, land-use transformation, and ecological disruption in altering disease distribution and transmission dynamics. Particular attention will be given to vector adaptation and the expanding range of vector-borne diseases, as well as zoonotic spillover events. Contributions exploring the mechanisms linking environmental change to epidemic risk are especially encouraged. We welcome studies spanning ecological, epidemiological, and molecular perspectives, including work that integrates environmental data with disease surveillance. By connecting environmental drivers to infectious disease dynamics, this session aims to provide insights into how global change is accelerating disease emergence.

This session will explore how infectious diseases evolve, spread, and persist in an increasingly interconnected and dynamic global landscape. We will focus on the biological mechanisms underlying disease dissemination, including pathogen transmission, tissue tropism, and host-pathogen interactions that shape infection outcomes. A central theme is the host immune response, ranging from protective immunity to immune evasion and dysregulation. In parallel, we will examine pathogen evolution and adaptation, including the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as key drivers of disease persistence and global health burden. Contributions addressing molecular, cellular, and population-level processes are welcome, as well as studies integrating experimental, clinical, and computational approaches. We particularly encourage submissions that bridge fundamental biology with translational or field-based insights.

Rapid urbanization in low- and middle-income countries reveals a stark urban penalty, where residents of slums and informal settlements face worse health outcomes than both wealthier urban populations and rural communities. Fragile infrastructures, inadequate sanitation, unhealthy food systems, and mobility pressures compound vulnerabilities, while lack of tailored public health intervention and health inequality intensify risks and further shape health outcomes. Megacities emerge as both hubs of opportunity, changing environmenatl conditions and pathways for disease, chronic conditions, and environmental stress, underscoring the need to confront urbanization as a determinant of inequality, health, and wellbeing. In this session, we will discuss how these complex factors interact and how we can both understand them and address them from our positions as clinicians, researchers, and decision-makers.

In a world where populations are increasingly mobile and crises continue to reshape health landscapes, ensuring continuity of care has never been more critical. Persisting vaccination coverage gaps, barriers to equitable access to medicines are putting a burden of weakened health systems. This session explores how access and quality of care can be safeguarded for people on the move, including those affected by conflict, displacement, and fragile health systems. Thes include innovative models of service delivery that adapt to instability while maintaining essential standards, emerging diagnostics and technological solutions with their potential to strengthen early detection and followup. We invite basic, clinical, behavioral, and implementation research, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the challenge. By bringing together diverse evidence, the session aims to illuminate practical pathways for delivering sustained, highquality care in motion.

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As people move—between countries, across regions, and within local communities—so do the challenges of how their health is tracked, interpreted, and governed. This session uses surveillance as a lens to explore health in contexts of mobility, considering how expanding digital interventions are transforming the ways individuals on the move are monitored. Bringing together insights from epidemiology, policymaking, and lived experience, the session asks how health surveillance systems can become more accountable, equitable, and rights-respecting in an era marked by unprecedented digital reach.