Researcher profile

Davide Rasella

I am a Social Epidemiologist with a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology and an MSc in Community Health from the Institute of Collective Health in Salvador (Brazil), a Diploma in Tropical Biomedicine from the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium), and training in mathematical modeling from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK). I have worked for nearly twenty years in the public health of vulnerable populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, ranging from field epidemiology in humanitarian emergencies to academic research on the effectiveness of nationwide social policies. During the last decade, I have focused my work on child health, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and poverty-related diseases. Moreover, I have applied advanced methodologies for health impact evaluation of social determinants, poverty-reduction policies, and healthcare interventions using observational data, and I have developed methods for the integration of retrospective impact evaluations with forecasting microsimulation models. My main interests are: Methods of ex-post and ex-ante health impact assessment and evaluation Microsimulation and forecasting models Impact of social determinants of health and poverty-relief interventions Impact of healthcare systems, healthcare interventions, and primary care My main publications are: 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. 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. The Lancet Global Health, 2022; 10: e390-97. Moncayo A, Cavalcanti DM, Ordonez JA, ...., 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. The Lancet Global Health, 2024; 12:e938-46. Morais GA de S, Magno L, Silva AF, .., Rasella D. Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on AIDS incidence, hospitalizations, and mortality in Brazil: a longitudinal ecological study. The Lancet HIV 2022;9(10):e690–9.