60 Out Of 700 Residents In Southern Palawan Positive For Malaria

A blood smearing for malaria parasite (BSMP) activity of the Kilusan Ligtas Malaria (KLM) in the town of Rizal in southern Palawan discovered 60 of its 700 residents are malaria positive.

The malaria positive patients are residents of Barangay Ransang, Rizal, who underwent the BSMP Tuesday.

KLM program manager Aileen Balderian said of the figure, 45 are elderly residents and 15 are children.

She said they are not undergoing treatment, and the KLM will see how their healing from the mosquito-borne disease would progress.

Ransang was selected as the area where to hold the BSMP because in southern Palawan, it is where the highest number of residents with malaria has been detected.

According to Balderian, out of 7,637 residents, who are malaria positive in Palawan, almost 2,000 are from Rizal, and 300 are actual residents of Ransang.

She said that Rizal is the first in the list of municipalities in the southern part of the province that has the highest malaria cases. Next are Brooke’s Point, Quezon, Bataraza and Sofronio Española.

“To lessen the number of malaria cases in Ransang, we chose it as the area where to hold the BSMP to help the residents, and to avoid death due to malaria,” Balderian said, adding that this year, a patient already died in Canipaan, also a barangay in Rizal town.

She added that currently, they are distributing more anti-malaria drugs, long-lasting bed nets soaked in anti-malaria formula, and conducting more information dissemination on how to avoid the mosquito-borne disease.

Rizal, officially the municipality of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in southern Palawan, is a first class town. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 42,759 people.

Prior to its formation as a separate municipality, the place was known as Tarumpitao Point and was part of the municipality of Quezon.

It is popular as a place where the Tao’t Batu indigenous peoples live in rock caves. (PNA) LAP/CARF/JMU/EDS