Objectives: To assess the improvements of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) system between 2002 and 2012, and problems the system has encountered.
Methods: We obtained data from 2 national cross-sectional surveys in 2006 and 2013, including 32 provincial, 139 municipal, and 489 county-level CDCs throughout China. We performed a pre-post comparative analysis to determine trends in resource allocation and service delivery.
Results: The overall completeness of public health services significantly increased from 47.4% to 76.6%. Furthermore, the proportion of CDC staff with bachelor's or higher degrees increased from 14.6% to 32.6%, and governmental funding per CDC increased 5.3-fold (1.283-8.098 million yuan). The working area per CDC staff increased from 37.9 square meters to 63.3 square meters, and configuration rate of type A devices increased from 28.1% to 65.0%. Remaining problems included an 11.9% reduction in staff and the fact that financial investments covered only 71.1% of actual expenditures.
Conclusions: China's CDC system has progressed remarkably, enabling quicker responses to emergent epidemics. Future challenges include establishing a sustainable financing mechanism and retaining a well-educated, adequately sized public health workforce.