POINT PLEASANT — It’s only the first week of December, but Christmas is around the corner. Soon, many will be rushing around and getting in their last minute shopping.

This month also is dedicated to promoting the awareness of AIDS. Tuesday was even observed as World AIDS Day.

According to the Avert Web site, a site dedicated to educating others, World AIDS Day was started on Dec. 1, 1988. World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2009 was “Universal Access and Human Rights.” This day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

It is estimated that 33.4 million people are living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008, some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

AIDS, which is an acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), attacks the immune system and is spread by sexual contact with infected persons, needle sharing, or through transfusions with infected blood.

Worryingly, many people think there is a ‘cure’ for AIDS. However, there is still no cure for AIDS. The only way to stay safe is to be aware of how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent HIV infection.

December also is known as “3D Month” — National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offer advice on how you can protect yourself, your family and your friends, especially during this busy, highly traveled month.

The NHTSA Web site states that ‘about three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.’ Other statistics include that in 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

Sobriety checkpoints, along with minimum legal drinking age laws and a ‘zero-intolerance’ laws for young drivers, are ways in that communities reduce alcohol-impaired driving.

Local law enforcement officials are gearing up for these checkpoints and plan to make December a safe month to be on the road. The West Virginia State Police, along with both the Mason County Sheriff’s Department and City of Point Pleasant Police, will be conducted checkpoints through the month. All departments will announce the dates when their plans are finalized.

December is the month to promote prevention and early detection of colon and rectal cancers, which is the second leading cause of cancer in the U.S., taking over 50,000 lives per year. Over 90 percent of people diagnosed with colorectoral cancer are 50 or older, however, only 40 percent of individuals within this age group get screened.

Other causes observed this month include Reed Ribbon Safety Campaign, Learn A Foreign Language Month, National Handwashing Awareness Month, Safe Toys and Gifts Month and Seasonal Depressional Awareness Month, all of which are promoted all month long. Operation Santa Paws is celebrated from Dec. 1-22. This cause is benefits abandoned animals during the holidays.