Summary:
- There is little to no published research on process mapping being conducted during health emergen-cies to improve the current outbreak response.
- Our research shows that despite the chaos and complexities associated with emerging pathogen outbreaks, process mapping can address immediate response priorities while simultaneously strengthening components of a health system.
- This methodology could be applied to any country that has an outbreak, including COVID-19 cases.
- There is an acute need in the global health community to respond to disease outbreaks in a way that effectively uses limited resources.
- This is a user-friendly and low-cost methodology that can be implemented during any time point of an outbreak, including during preparedness and readiness activities.
- Future operational and implementation research focussed on using process mapping and other applied system methodologies during outbreaks should be conducted.