Universal healthcare needs sustainable funding solutions.

Ferdinando Regalia is the Social Sector Manager at the Inter-American Development Bank, having previously served as Chief of the Social Protection and Health Division (SPH). In this role, he oversaw the development of key lending operations and technical assistance projects in social protection, along with comprehensive analytical studies on poverty, social protection, and health. He has led innovative public-private collaboration initiatives, including the Salud Mesoamérica initiative, the Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Malaria in Latin America, and the Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund. With over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing development programs and policies, Ferdinando has also been a Senior Advisor to the Vice Presidency for Sectors and Knowledge at the IDB, Chief of Economics and Social Policy at UNICEF South Africa, and a social protection specialist and economist at the World Bank's Network on Economics and Poverty Reduction. There, he conducted research on poverty issues and coordinated technical cooperation through the MECOVI program for improving surveys and measuring living conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has published in indexed journals such as Population Studies, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Economics of Education Review, and Journal of Labor Economics, and has authored book chapters on social protection and results-based financing mechanisms. An Italian national, Ferdinando holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University.

Marcella Distrutti has been a health specialist in the Social Protection and Health Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) since 2015, after joining the IDB as a Young Professional in 2013. Prior to joining the IDB, Marcella worked at the Ministry of Health in Brazil, supporting the design and implementation of sexual and reproductive health policies. She also worked as a consultant for organizations such as the World Bank. In 2018, along with other health specialists, she co-authored the book “La priorización en Salud paso a paso: Cómo articulan sus procesos México, Brasil y Colombia.” Marcella holds a master's degree in Health Financing, Planning, and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), as well as a master's in International Development and Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.