What is Tropical Medicine? A Guide to Global Health Challenges

Tropical medicine focuses on addressing the global disease burden, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including those in Africa (mainly sub-Saharan Africa), Latin America, South America, and Southeast Asia. Over one billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases each year, highlighting the need for more targeted prevention and healthcare². These regions tend to experience higher rates of infectious and neglected tropical diseases, including malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, and schistosomiasis, due to factors like poverty, limited healthcare infrastructure, and environmental conditions favorable to disease transmission, such as warm and humid climates, poor sanitation, and flooding and standing water³. 

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, the largest comprehensive effort to measure population health, helps quantify the gap between current health outcomes and an ideal state of well-being⁴. GBD is a critical framework that provides data on mortality, disability, and risk factors, highlighting where infectious and neglected tropical diseases continue to cause widespread illness and premature death. 

Tropical medicine plays a significant role in shaping interventions and policies informed by GBD data. It supports evidence-based approaches to disease prevention, control, and elimination. With the increase in globalization, air travel, and climate migration, diseases that were once typically confined to specific regions are now emerging or re-emerging in non-tropical areas as well⁵.

By understanding the global reach and evolving nature of these health threats, tropical medicine offers critical insights for building resilient healthcare systems and advancing public health equity on a worldwide scale.

Tropical medicine encompasses a wide range of diseases, many of which are linked to climate, geography, and socioeconomic conditions. These tropical infectious diseases are classified based on their cause and mode of transmission. The three main categories are vector-borne diseases, parasitic diseases, and zoonotic and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

Vector-borne Diseases

Parasitic Diseases

Zoonotic and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

Tropical disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent due to urbanization, climate change, and ecosystem disruption, making tropical medicine more vital than ever for global health security⁶.

The field of tropical medicine is a blend of science, clinical care, and public health, offering a diverse range of careers that aspiring global health practitioners can pursue.

Professionals in this field often specialize in parasitology, entomology, immunology, molecular biology, or microbiology, utilizing methods such as epidemiological mapping, field trials, and laboratory-based research to address the global burden of disease.

Below are some common career roles and settings in this medical specialty:

Careers in tropical medicine:

Career settings:

So, what does a typical path look like for someone interested in tropical medicine? The journey might start with a Bachelors in Public Health or Biology, followed by a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Tropical Medicine, and then hands-on experiences in an endemic region. You might take it up a notch by pursuing a PhD focused on implementation science or infectious disease.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2024, epidemiologists earned a median annual salary of $83,980, with a projected job growth rate of 19%, which is much faster than the average⁷. Tropical medicine professionals are needed now more than ever in the public health workforce, which is why they’re in such high demand. 

As new trends emerge in tropical diseases across the globe, it’s crucial for professionals to stay up to date on the latest findings. They can do so by attending key conferences, such as the ASTMH Annual Meeting and the Global Health & Innovation Conference (GHIC), as well as regional summits hosted by the WHO and various universities. Some of these conferences may be open to the public, offering an excellent opportunity for prospective medical students and those interested in tropical medicine to explore the scope of global public health careers.

Interested in a career in the tropical medicine field? To put yourself on the right path, you’ll want to set the foundation through education and hands-on experience.

This pathway can lead to careers such as clinical tropical medicine physician, field epidemiologist, or public health consultant.

Ready to start exploring programs? Here are the top institutions offering the best tropical medicine programs:

Vaccine research, diagnostic innovations, bioinformatics in public health, and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered outbreak modeling all play important roles in tropical medicine, helping to transform global health responses.

A good example of this in action is the RTS,S malaria vaccine that was piloted in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi through the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP)⁸. The program, which ran from 2019 to 2023, has shown promise in reducing severe infectious diseases. Similarly, researchers are currently exploring mRNA technology for dengue and other tropical diseases to determine if genomic sequencing enhances vaccines⁹.

Advanced tools, such as Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, bioinformatics, and mobile diagnostics, can help track outbreaks in real-time. As with many public health projects, researchers often need funding to make potentially life-changing discoveries in infectious and neglected tropical diseases. Collaborations funded by organizations such as the Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center promote cross-border disease surveillance and locally led research.

Simply put, tropical medicine is rapidly advancing in addressing emerging diseases, with technology at its core.

Working in tropical medicine often involves interacting with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, belief systems, healing traditions, and varying levels of health literacy. That said, the field must hold a deep commitment to cultural competency in global health and to ethical, community-centered care.

Health professionals must approach cultural differences, language barriers, and traditional health practices with humility and respect. Effective public health interventions depend on building trust, collaborating with local leaders, and honoring the lived experiences of the communities they serve. 

At the same time, ethics in tropical medicine calls for responsible research conduct, transparent communication, and equitable partnerships. Practitioners must avoid exploitative practices rooted in colonial history. Instead, the focus should be on prioritizing benefits for the target community, obtaining informed consent, and engaging in shared decision-making.

Tropical medicine is not just about biology—it’s about the advancement of public health. 

Notable successes in tropical medicine include the eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of Guinea worm disease through mass treatment and water safety programs. Ongoing malaria control campaigns, such as bed net distribution and vaccine rollouts, demonstrate the power of combining public health strategies into a single major effort^10,11,12. 

The field has made substantial progress in controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases, with 50 countries having eliminated at least one NTD, and a growing number of tropical countries aiming to eliminate 100 more by 2030¹³. 

Unfortunately, environmental changes have made some regions more susceptible to infectious diseases. Climate change is causing mosquito habitats to expand, thus increasing the spread of dengue fever and malaria. Also, deforestation and mining create new disease risks by disrupting natural ecosystems^14,15. 

Tropical medicine plays a crucial role in identifying high-risk occupations, developing occupational health protocols, and informing environmental health interventions. Organizations such as the CDC and WHO rely on this field to predict, prevent, and respond to global health crises.

Since the field’s emergence in the late 19th century, tropical medicine has continued to rapidly evolve to address future global health challenges¹⁶. AI in global health is revolutionizing how practitioners predict and track disease outbreaks, enabling faster and more targeted responses to these outbreaks.

As climate change reshapes the global disease landscape and health policy, innovative tropical medicine—such as next-generation vaccines, digital diagnostics, and portable lab technologies—is expanding the field’s reach and effectiveness.

As localized tropical diseases begin to appear in other regions of the world, the field is no longer confined to a single geographical area. It intersects with climate policy, digital health, and borderless epidemiology, making the field an essential component of the future of global healthcare.

Increased investment in cross-border health initiatives has fostered partnerships among countries, NGOs, and research institutions, highlighting the importance of international collaboration in addressing global health crises.