Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – The death toll from severe malnutrition cases in East Nusa Tenggara province rose from 23 to 25 as of Thursday, an official from the local health office said.

Erlina Salmun, the office's head of food and nutrition monitoring, said the two additional dead victims aged under five were Lidia Luna of Ngada regency and Juningsih Winto Wara of Southwest Sumba regency. "The two died because of complications from acute malnutrition and malaria," Erlina said.

Most children suffering from acute malnutrition also endured various illnesses such as diarrhea, malaria and tuberculosis, she said.

Erlina said in the first six months of this year, the number of malnutrition cases with clinical complications reached 112, while those without clinical complications numbered 12,680 and others suffering from poor nutrition amounted to 72,085.