JAKARTA, June 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Indonesia with 15 million US dollars in financial assistance to implement programs to overcome severe malnutrition among certain segments of the population and improve public nutrition in general, state-owned news agency Antara quoted a local official as saying in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday.

    "The assistance will be disbursed in installments over a period of five years starting in August this year," head of the local health office of Makassar, Armyn Nurdin, said.

    He said there are 41 children suffering from severe malnutrition in Makassar due to the government's decision to remove the budget for improving children's nutrition.

    The city administration, he said, has allocated 500 million rupiah (about 50,000 US dollars) for the purpose in the 2004 fiscal year.

    According to recent reports by local media, thousands of Indonesian children are suffering from malnutrition, particularly in East and West Nusa Tenggara provinces. Similar cases have also been found in several other provinces, including Lampung, Central Java, West Java, East Kalimantan and Jakarta. Enditem