The Government of Japan decided on July 15 (Fri) to extend emergency grant aid of about 1.56 million dollars (about 167 million yen), through the World Food Programme (WFP), to the Republic of Indonesia for a serious malnutrition problem caused by drought.
East and West Nusa Tenggara provinces in the eastern part of the Republic of Indonesia have been suffering from severe drought this year. In many areas, the harvest has failed, and many of the people have been unable to get enough food to sustain life.
For this reason the situation is serious in both provinces where approximately 180,000 children are undernourished and a large number of people are dying of starvation. The WFP is planning to provide skimmed milk for children under the five years of age in these two provinces, who are suffering from especially serious malnutrition, and it sent a request to the Government of Japan for assistance.
The Government of Japan has decided to extend this emergency grant aid from a humanitarian point of view with a view of the friendly relations with the Republic of Indonesia.
The implementation of this project is expected to alleviate malnutrition in the two provinces and save as many lives of undernourished children as possible.
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