Objective  To analyze the differences in health emergency capacity of primary healthcare workers in regions with different economic development levels in China, explore the influencing factors of these capacities, and provide a basis for promoting the construction of the health emergency system.

Methods  A total of 1 333 primary healthcare workers were surveyed by convenience sampling with a self-designed public health emergency response capacity questionnaire in Beijing (as a developed region) and City Q of Heilongjiang Province (as a developing region).

Results  A total of 1 281 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 96.10%. Among them, 589 were from Beijing and 692 from City Q. The proportions of personnel with formal establishments, professional qualification certificates, and high education in Beijing were higher than in City Q. The proportions of personnel participating in health emergency training, drills, and practical work on emergency response were also higher in Beijing than in City Q (P < 0.05). The total score of health emergency capacity of 1 281 primary healthcare workers was (114.65 ± 17.77) points, and the average score was (3.82 ± 0.59) points. The rankings from high to low based on average scores were: psychological quality (4.13 ± 0.58) points, professional skills (3.86 ± 0.69) points, and theoretical knowledge (3.63 ± 0.72) points. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that, compared with City Q, the health emergency capacity score of primary healthcare workers in Beijing increased by 2.068 points. Compared with primary healthcare workers who had not participated in health emergency training, drills, and practice work on emergency response, the scores of those who had participated increased by 4.648, 10.935, and 3.466 points, respectively (P < 0.05).

Conclusions  The health emergency capacity of primary healthcare workers represents the comprehensive strength of local health and healthcare. The health emergency capacity in developing regions is still not strong enough, and efforts should be made to actively strengthen the construction of health emergency capacity and systems in order to comprehensively improve the capacity and level of health emergency response.