Equip ISGlobal

Davide Rasella holds the position of ICREA Research Professor and Head of the Health Impact Assessment and Evaluation Group (HIAE) Group at ISGlobal. He is a social epidemiologist with solid expertise in health impact assessment and evaluation methods, with a primary focus on mitigating poverty-related diseases and reducing health disparities in Low and Middle-Income Countries.

He has earned both an MSc and a PhD in Public Health from the Institute of Collective Health in Salvador (Brazil). He also holds a Diploma in Tropical Biomedicine from the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium) and has undergone training in mathematical modeling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK).

For more than two decades, he has been dedicated to the field of public health, focusing on vulnerable populations in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. His work has ranged from field epidemiology in humanitarian emergencies to academic research evaluating the health impact of nationwide policies.

His main research interest has been the development of methodologies to evaluate the effects of social determinants, conditional cash transfers, and primary health care using longitudinal big data, and the integration of retrospective impact evaluations with forecasting models. During his career, he has conducted health impact assessments and evaluations on child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and other poverty-related diseases and conditions. He is currently leading large multicountry HIA projects in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico, and HIA studies in Mozambique, Gabon, Ethiopia, and Bolivia.

Línies de recerca

• Methods of retrospective (ex-post) and prospective (ex-ante) health impact assessment and evaluation
• Compartmental models, microsimulation, and other forecasting models
• Impact of social determinants of health and poverty-relief interventions
• Impact of healthcare systems and primary health care
• HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and other poverty-related diseases
• Child and maternal health

Publicacions principals

• Rasella D, Aquino R, Santos C; Paes-Sousa R, Barreto ML. Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on childhood mortality: a nationwide analysis of Brazilian municipalities. The Lancet 2013; 382: 57–64.
• Rasella D, Harhay MO, Pamponet ML, Aquino R, Barreto ML. Impact of primary health care on mortality from heart and cerebrovascular diseases in Brazil: a nationwide analysis of longitudinal data. BMJ 2014 Jul 3; 349:g4014.
• Rasella D, Basu S, Hone T, Sousa RP, Ocke CO, Millet C. Child morbidity and mortality associated with alternative policy responses to the economic recession in Brazil: a nationwide microsimulation study. PLOS Medicine 2018 May 22;15(5):e1002570.
• Rasella D, Basu S, Hone T, Souza LS, Tasca R, Millet C. Mortality associated with alternative primary health care policies: a nationwide microsimulation modelling study in Brazil. BMC Medicine 2019 Apr 26;17(1):82.
• Rasella D, Richiardi L, Brachowicz N, et al. Developing an integrated microsimulation model for the impact of fiscal policies on child health in Europe: the example of childhood obesity in Italy. BMC Medicine 2021; 19: 310.
• Jesus GS, Pescarini JM, Silva AF, .... Rasella D. The effect of primary health care on tuberculosis in a nationwide cohort of 7·3 million Brazilian people: a quasi-experimental study. Lancet Glob Health 2022; 10: e390–7.
• de Sampaio Morais GA, Magno L, Silva AF, ..., Rasella D. Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on AIDS incidence, hospitalisations, and mortality in Brazil: a longitudinal ecological study. Lancet HIV 2022; 9: e690–9.
• Lua I, Silva AF, Guimarães NS, ..., Rasella D. The effects of social determinants of health on acquired immune deficiency syndrome in a low-income population of Brazil: a retrospective cohort study of 28.3 million individuals. Lancet Regional Health – Americas 2023; 24. DOI:10.1016/j.lana.2023.100554.
• Moncayo A, Cavalcanti DM, Ordonez JA, et al., Rasella D. Can primary health care mitigate the effects of economic crises on child health in Latin America? An integrated multicountry evaluation and forecasting analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2024; 12: e938–46