5,000 children malnourished

CIREBON, West Java: Nearly 5,000 children under five years old in Cirebon, West Java are suffering from malnutrition due to the economic crisis that has plagued the country since 1997, a local health official says.

"The number of malnourished children under five is 2.5 percent of a total of 186,000 children in Cirebon," head of the local health office Dadang Prihadi said here on Thursday.

He said most of the malnourished children lived with their parents in coastal areas in Kapetakan, Beber, Kaliwedi and Ciwaringin districts.

Dadang said before the crisis there were no malnourished children in the regency but the number started to rise in 2000. --JP