Jakarta - Australia announced Wednesday it will provide 50 billion rupiah (5.36 million dollars) to help improve food security and reduce malnutrition among children in eastern Indonesia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The contribution was announced by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, while visiting a clinic in Kupang, West Timor, the WFP said in a press statement.

"It is with pleasure that I announce that from 2008-10 Australia is providing the WFP with a further 50 billion rupiah (6.5 million Australian dollars)," the statement quoted Farmer as saying.

"This two-year programme is intended to address the immediate issue of malnutrition, and also very importantly, addresses the larger problem of food security, through building the government's capacity at the local level in food security analysis, surveillance and disaster preparedness," it added.

WFP welcomed the contribution at a time when global food and fuel prices are rising, and the poorest and most malnourished people are finding it more difficult to survive every day.

It said the funds will support WFP Indonesia operations in West Timor and Lombok Island, areas with some of Indonesia's highest child malnutrition rates.

In West Timor, some 200,000 children and pregnant and nursing mothers will receive assistance through WFP's school feeding and mother/child nutrition programme.

"We are extremely grateful for the Australian contribution," said Angela Van Rynbach, representative and country director of WFP Indonesia, calling it a "vital support to WFP's life-saving and life-transforming operations in Indonesia."

West Timor is one of the poorest areas in Indonesia, with 51 per cent of children under 5 years of age underweight, and 55 per cent stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition, the WFP said.

Local media reports said that malnutrition had killed more than 20 children in July, while thousands of other lives were in danger in East Nusa Tenggara province, including in the provincial capital of Kupang. (dpa)