Malnutrition claims more children's lives in eastern Indonesia

Jun 17, 2008, 6:01 GMT

Jakarta - The death toll from malnutrition in the eastern Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara rose to 23 this week while thousands of other lives were in danger, local officials and media reports said Tuesday.

At least 114 other children have been treated at hospitals in a number of districts in the province, said Stefanus Bria, head of the East Nusa Tenggara's provincial health office.

'Twenty-three children, mostly under the age of 5, have died since January this year with tens of thousands of cases of malnutrition-related complications recorded across the province's 20 regencies,' Stefanus said.

Stefanus expressed fears that the malnutrition death toll will rise further and said his office has been hampered by budgetary constraints to tackle the problem.

One official who identified herself as Herlina said the provincial health administration repeatedly requested aid from the central government, but has been ignored.

Other officials said the central government stopped providing nutrition supplements to children in the province earlier this year.

They blamed poverty as the main cause of malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara, known as one of Indonesia's poorest and least-developed provinces.

'Due to continued poor food production from season to season and due to poverty, households just don't have adequate access to food in either quantity or nutritional quality,' Herlina said.

The Jakarta Post quoted data from the provincial health office as showing that at least 512,400 malnourished toddlers were recorded in the province, with most are undergoing medical treatment at nutrition rehabilitation centres across the province.

Malnutrition began to surge in East Nusa Tenggara province in 2005 when 66 deaths were recorded that year. In 2006, the death toll rose to 77 but dropped last year with only 10 victims.