摘要The infant mortality rate in China declined from 50.2‰ to 13.8‰ between 1991 and 2009.1 Although China has made good progress,there were still about 190 thousand infants who died in 2009.Reliable birth and death registration and the causes of death in populations are essential for public health planning.The National Maternal and Child Mortality Surveillance System (MCMS) is the major system to register maternal and infant deaths.It samples 126 districts and 210 counties,totally 336 sites,covering 12％ of counties and 9％ of the population.Causes of deaths are determined by the attending clinician.For those who die out hospital or clinic,a community health provider will be asked to visit that family and make a decision as to the cause of death.