Abstract: Objective To explore the current situation of capacity building of centers for disease control and prevention （CDCP） at township level in Zhongshan City and find out main problems, so as to provide reference for making policy. Method The current status of disease prevention and control capabilities in Zhongshan City in 2015 and 2018 was investigated, and the results were analyze using descriptive epidemiological analysis methods. Result Twenty-four CDCP at township- level were set up with diverse institutional settings and management models in Zhongshan City in 2018. Of the centers, 54.2% involved 8 or more disease control functions. The business room area increased by 135.57% compared with 2015. At least one vaccination clinic has been set up in each of towns. There were 338 staff members in 2018, a decrease from 355 in 2015. The proportion of staff with a bachelor's degree or above increased from 54.4% to 58.2%, the proportion of staff with an intermediate title or above increased from 4.4% to 27.7%, and the proportion of personnel with less than 5 years of service increased from 17.2% to 29.9%. There were 231 public health doctors in 2018. Of the 24 towns （districts）, 10 （41.7%） were equipped with 1.0 - 1.2 public health doctors per 10,000 population, 10 （41.7%） with 0.5 - 0.9, and 4 （16.7%） with less than 0.5. The score of prevention and control for infectious diseases in 2018 were higher than those in 2015, and the scores of standardized management of immunization in 2018 were lower than those in 2015 （P<0.05 or P<0.01）. Conclusion The capacity building of the township-level CDCP is unbalanced in Zhongshan City. It is suggested that measures of strengthing the responsibility of government input, promoting the substantiation construction of the local CDCP, establishing equitable long-term salary mechanism, personnel training project and other measures should be taken to improve the capacity building.

Key words: Center for disease control and prevention, Capacity building, Prevention and control, Public health