How Local Control Helped Stop Ebola in Liberia

During the 2014–2016 West African Ebola crisis, the CDC helped Liberia shift outbreak response authority from national and international teams to county-level health officials. This decentralized approach—called RITE—let frontline workers make faster decisions, reducing delays in remote areas. The model proved influential enough that other African nations adopted it for later outbreaks, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo.