Shanghai should make it easier for community-based organizations (CBO) working on AIDS prevention to register with authorities, members of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said in a report Wednesday.

In 1995, Shanghai was the first city in the country to establish a CBO focused on AIDS prevention. By the end of 2012, the city  had 40 AIDS prevention CBOs, according to the Shanghai Committee of Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (CPWDP).

According to a CPWDP report, CBOs have become an effective extension of government work that is closer to the public. The report pointed out that the CBOs explored multiple ways of raising funds to meet AIDS prevention needs that weren't being fulfilled by the government.

However, of 40 CBOs, only five were registered with the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, the report said. Another five were registered with the industrial and commercial administration as business organizations. The rest are all unregistered. They have no articles of association and lack a formal management system. The situation has hurt the organizations credibility with the public and has made them difficult to regulate.

Most activities that CBOs sponsor are limited to solving a narrow range of problems. "Considering Shanghai's population and status, their efforts to help AIDS patients are far from enough," the report said.

The report advised the local government to loosen registration standards for social organizations like CBOs and encourage more organizations to help with AIDS prevention.

China had the first AIDS case in 1985. By the end of June 2012, there were 474,528 AIDS and HIV-infected patients in China. Although the country's infection rate is low, it has been growing in Shanghai in recent years.