Qualitative Evaluation of Health Department Measles Response Practices: Lessons Learned From 11 US Jurisdictions, March‒October 2024.

This article presents a qualitative evaluation of measles response practices among 11 diverse U.S. state and local health departments conducted from March to October 2024 by the Center for Outbreak Response Innovation (CORI) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study identifies three main areas critical to effective measles outbreak management: the use of real-time data tracking systems (including tools like Research Electronic Data Capture, REDCap), the importance of established protocols and regular training, and the need for standardized metrics to evaluate response effectiveness, such as the 7-1-7 framework. Findings highlight variability in preparedness across jurisdictions and emphasize challenges like data integration and communication gaps. The evaluation suggests that strengthening these areas through national leadership and technical assistance could improve outbreak response capabilities and help maintain measles elimination status in the United States.