Dr Anban Pillay is the Deputy Director General at the National Department of Health in South Africa. He has been at the Health Ministry for over 20 years in various roles including policies that improve access to medicines.  

He has Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa), Masters in Clinical Pharmacology from the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine (South Africa) and Doctorate for the University of Newcastle (Australia). 

He has been intimately involved in the development and implementation of various pharmaceutical policies in South Africa since 1994. These policies include the regulation of dispensing by doctors, lay ownership of pharmacies, regulation of dispensing fee, a transparent medicine pricing system which regulates prices from the manufacturer through to the patient, international benchmarking of medicine prices and pharmacoeconomic analyses. These interventions resulted in significant declines in the cost of medicines in the private healthcare sector. 

He has been responsible for implementing similar interventions which reformed the public health procurement system and lead to massive reductions in ARV prices amongst others. He has been instrumental in the development of South Africa’s Universal Health Coverage Policy which aims to provide healthcare access to the entire population.  

Dr Pillay has served on several international Committee/Boards including the Medicines Patent Pool, UNICEF/GAVI Expert Advisory Committee, Global Fund Market Dynamic Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the WHO Essential Medicines Committee amongst others.