Infectious disease was the second most common cause of death in 1949, and the epidemic situation of infectious diseases was so severe that the Chinese government made major investments to the control and prevention of infectious diseases. During the past 60 years the development of the notifiable disease surveillance system in China has experienced 3 phases, including germination stage, development stage, improvement and consolidation stage (1). As the quality of infectious diseases surveillance has been improved stepwisely, the national morbidity of class A and B notifiable disease decreased from 7157.5 per 100,000 in 1970 to 225.8 per 100,000 in 2013, and the mortality decreased from 56.0 per 100,000 in 1959 to 1.2 per 100,000 in 2013(2).
Objective: We aimed to review the development and changes of National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) from 1950 to 2013, and to analyze and summarize the changes in regulations and public health surveillance practices in China.