Human resources allocation for infectious disease prevention and control in national centers for disease control and prevention in 2019 and 2022

Objective To elucidate the fundamental characteristics of human resources responsible for infectious disease prevention and control at the different level centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs) in China, and to provide a basis for strengthening CDC's talent policy.

Methods The personnel information of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control registered by 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) and Xinjiang production and Construction Corps in 2019 and 2022 collected in national disease prevention and control information system. A descriptive analysis was conducted on the number, age, educational background, professional title and comprehensive quality of CDCs’ human resources involved in infectious disease prevention and control.

Results  (1) From 2019 to 2022, the number of infectious disease prevention and control personnel per million population increased by 6.09/10⁶, and the number of personnel aged 25-34 years old, those with a bachelor’s degree and those without professional titles increased by 2.72/10⁶, 4.56/10⁶ and 2.07/10⁶, respectively. (2) The arithmetic mean age of infectious disease prevention and control personnel in 2022 was 40.78±10.85 years, 0.33 years lower than that in 2019 (41.11±9.98 years). In 2022, personnel aged 25-34, 35-44, and 45-54 years old accounted for 29.38%, 26.82%, and 27.37%, respectively. (3) In 2022, those holding bachelor's and postgraduate degrees accounted for 51.85% and 10.04%, respectively. (4) In 2022, staff with junior, intermediate and senior professional titles accounted for 36.21%, 27.05%, 16.88%, respectively. (5) In 2022, the arithmetic mean score of the comprehensive quality of human resources in the national CDCs were 9.88±1.74, respectively, lower than those in 2019 (9.93±1.81). The average score gap between provincial and municipal CDCs (1.03) was significantly higher than that between municipal and county-level CDCs (0.14), with the largest average score gap between provincial and county-level CDCs in central region (1.85).

Conclusion The total number of infectious disease prevention and control personnel in national CDCs increased significantly from 2019 to 2022, with a trend of younger and higher education. The infectious disease prevention and control team of the CDCs in the central region needs to be strengthened.