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Emma Hannay
Global Health Strategist | Public Health Doctor | Driving Change in Complex Environments
Emma Hannay is the Chief Access Officer at FIND, an organization focused on improving access to diagnostics globally. She has been in this role since February 2021 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Hannay is a public health doctor with a strong emphasis on global health strategy and delivery, particularly in the context of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) .14
In her position, Dr. Hannay advocates for expanding access to diagnostic testing, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted significant disparities in healthcare access. She emphasizes that diagnostics are crucial for timely healthcare interventions and improving overall health outcomes. Her work aims to address the "benign neglect" of diagnostics within health systems, advocating for greater investment and focus on this area to ensure equitable access .13
Dr. Hannay has also contributed to scholarly discussions on diagnostics, co-authoring a comment in The Lancet that discusses leveraging momentum from the pandemic to enhance diagnostic capabilities globally .1 Additionally, she has held previous roles within FIND, including Strategy Advisor, and continues to be active in promoting innovations in diagnostics through various initiatives .25
Highlights
Great to have this really nice piece published of agent-based modelling on the interaction between access to diagnostics and medicines for COVID-19, showing that without thinking about the whole patient pathway, introduction of a single innovation is unlikely to have much public health impact.
A great illustration of the systems thinking principle of interconnectedness and how it applies in global health systems. Great job Alvin, Colin and Brooke!
We've been exploring with Madhu Pai, Divya Srivastava, Jacob Bigio and colleagues how diagnostics are treated in social health insurance programs in 7 countries as part of our efforts to increase access to diagnostics in LMICs through better health systems financing, just published in BMJ Global Health.
Main takeaways: -> heterogeneity in how diagnostics are treated in benefits packages, even within an individual country health insurance program -> gaps in policy rationale for how and why diagnostics are included in benefits packages
What do we need? -> diagnostics strategies within health insurance benefits packages, including integration across public-private sectors & clearer reimbursement rates -> better data from health insurance programs on diagnostics usage & access
