Puducherry: The 19th National Conference of the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology (IATP) - TROPACON 2025 - began at JIPMER here on Thursday, bringing together experts to deliberate on parasitic diseases and public health challenges.

Inaugurating the event, IATP President and former JIPMER Director Prof S.C. Parija said parasitic and zoonotic infections continue to remain a major public health concern, stressing the need for capacity building in parasitology laboratories through infrastructure, diagnostic platforms, biosafety standards and continuous training.

On the occasion, Dr M.G.R. University Vice-Chancellor Prof S. Geethalakshmi released the German edition of Lehrbuch Der Parasitären Zoonosen (Textbook of Parasitic Zoonoses) edited by Prof Parija and Prof Abhijt Chaudhury, and published by Springer Nature.

Organising chairman Prof Rakesh Singh said the three-day conference features 12 symposia and four workshops with participation from over 70 speakers and chairpersons. About 200 delegates from across the country are attending.

Experts will discuss topics such as climate change and parasitology, leishmaniasis, congenital toxoplasmosis, zoonotic malaria, uncommon parasitic infections, women in parasitology, and advances in omics.

The IATP's Dr S.C. Parija Oration Award was conferred on Prof Sumeeta Khurana of PGIMER, Chandigarh, while the Springer-Parija South-East Asia Award went to Prof Abhay R. Satoskar of Ohio State University for his work on a leishmaniasis vaccine. Prof Tapashi Ghosh was conferred the fellowship of IATP.

Awards for publications, oral and thesis presentations, chapter activities and quizzes for students will also be presented during the congress, organisers said.