Elena Moya

Elena is the Vice President of the Spanish Association against Meningitis (AEM, Asociación Española contra la Meningitis), a unique organization that fights against this disease in Spain. She contracted meningococcal meningitis at the age of 4 and fully recovered without sequalae thank to seeking medical help on time. As a meningitis survivor, she is very concerned about this disease and this childhood trauma brought her on a mission to raise awareness about meningitis, and to be an advocate for vaccination, particularly in infant and adolescent population.

Elena holds a Masters in Expert Management in Patients Organizations and a Masters in General Executive Direction for Schools. She has been trained to develop the best advocacy strategy in her country and plays a critical role in building awareness of meningitis across Spain through her visits to schools, hospitals, clinics, as well as lobbying to national and regional health institutions and regulators.

Equal access to immunization, as the only means to be protected against bacteria or virus, is a battle she has been leading successfully in Spain with the AEM, achieving national milestones like vaccination in vaccination coverage in Canarias, Andalusia, Castile and León and Catalonia. Elena was chosen to be part of Spanish Patient’s Forum’s Board of Directors (FEP, Foro Español de Pacientes) in 2018, as their International Coordinator and since then she has been actively participating in FEP’s activities.

On an international scale, Elena is a member of CoMO (Confederation of Meningitis Organisations) since 2008 and has been working as the African and European coordinator for the past 13 years, where she coordinates the activities and strategic plans of 21 patient organizations in 12 countries.

She is also on the Board of Directors of the Boston Scientific Foundation Europe. Since 2020 she is proud to be able to help to choose the best projects that make a change in children’s health. One of the most distinguished outcomes was to participate with the WHO to launch a roadmap to defeat meningitis in 2030. This historic decision and plan to globally #defeatMeningitis recognizes the fight of millions of persons affected by this disease.

It’s a real privilege to be able count on Elena’s unconditional support, as it is to share values and global vision for the need of impactful solutions against meningitis.

Learn more about the WHO’s Defeat Meningitis by 2030 campaign here:
https://www.who.int/initiatives/defeating-meningitis-by-2030

Link to the Spanish Association against Meningitis here:
https://contralameningitis.org/