Leire Pajín Iraola

Biography

 Between 2012 and 2014, Leire Pajín Iraola served as Special Advisor to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and was a policy advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Post-2015 Agenda team. Before taking up these posts, she was Spanish Minister for Health, Social Policy and Equality. Earlier in her career, as Secretary of State for International Cooperation and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), she was involved in the development and approval of the Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation (2005-2008) that increased Spanish official development aid threefold to 0.5% of GDP.  

Research Interest

 As Minister of Health she promoted development in research and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, saw the approval of the General Health Act, the adaptation of Spanish legislation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the implementation of anti-smoking health measures under the Tobacco Consumption Act, and measures aimed at reducing public spending on prescription drugs. When in charge of Spain’s General Plan for AIDS, she furthered multidisciplinary research on antiretroviral drugs, improved Spain’s AIDS research networks, and strengthened the country’s relationship with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, bringing together public and private efforts in the fight against AIDS.