Christophe Lemiere is Chief Health Economist at the World Bank. He has advised clients in more than 30 countries (Africa, Eastern Europe, East Asia) on a wide range of health care issues, such as health service management, planning and financing, pandemic preparedness and health human resources. Before joining the World Bank in 2007, Christophe worked as a hospital director in Europe. Christophe holds master's degrees in public health, health economics, and financial management.

Bruno Meessen is a senior health financing adviser at WHO HQ. He joined WHO Financing and Economics Department in 2020, after 20 years in academia and 6 years in humanitarian aid. His main domains of expertise are health sector reform and provider payment mechanisms. Besides his contributions in the health financing area, he developed a passion for knowledge management and collective intelligence. Bruno holds a PhD in economics.

Malal Diop is a specialist in social protection and health financing, with over 10 years of experience in designing, managing and steering health and social protection programmes in West Africa. He works in particular on health financing, health insurance schemes and inclusive social protection. In Mauritania, he played a key role in designing and rolling out a national social insurance mechanism for workers in the informal sector, and supported the development of disability-inclusive social protection programmes. Malal holds a PhD in public health.

Polydor Kabila is coordinator of the National Council for Universal Health Coverage (CN-CSU) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Under his leadership, the Council launched a programme of free maternity and newborn care benefit package. Prior to this, he served as acting chief of staff to the Minister of Health. Polydor is a doctor of medicine; he has worked for many years as a hospital doctor and emergency physician in South Africa and Canada, where he obtained the title of family doctor.

Ponou Armand Kouassi is currently Senior Advisor to the General Management of UHC in Côte d'Ivoire, where he is in charge of health financing. Ponou has 20 years of professional experience, including 5 years in clinical practice and 15 years in public health in various departments of the Ministry of Health. Prior to that, Ponou also worked as a consultant for several international organisations. Ponou is a trained physician and holds a master's degree in health systems management and health policy.

Sophie Faye is Technical Officer for Economic Evaluation and Priority Setting at the WHO Regional Office for Africa. She is a health economist with over 12 years of experience in research and implementation of health financing and health systems strengthening in developing countries. Previously, she managed several USAID-funded health financing and health systems strengthening projects in various countries. Sophie holds a PhD in economics.