Shanghai Guidance Center for Primary Prevention of Birth Defects is jointly run by the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission and the Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University. The Center consists of Technical Support and Quality Assurance Department, Technical Training Department, Research and Development Department, and Pre-pregnancy Counseling Department. The goals of the Center are to: 1) provide a technical platform promoting primary prevention of birth defects throughout the districts and counties in Shanghai; 2) establish and enforce quality control and quality assurance criteria; 3) establish an effective and scientific regime of review indicators and procedures monitoring the entire process of primary prevention of birth defects; 3) develop training programs for consultants at the grassroots level; 4) provide counseling, checkup and treatment of patients transferred from community hospitals, and provide advice on whether particular patients should be referred to other hospitals; 5) develop appropriate technologies for self assessment system, internet information services, and pre-pregnancy physical examinations; and 6) conduct basic and applied research, for example, epidemiologic study in Shanghai of birth defects, identification of causes of birth defects and modifiable risk factors.