The govern­ment and milita­ry have sent medica­l teams and are supply­ing villag­ers with medici­neJAKARTA: A measles outbreak is feared to have killed about 100 malnourished people in Indonesia’s Papua, an official said Sunday, highlighting a health crisis in the country’s easternmost province. A total of 69 toddlers have died in the remote Asmat region, said Papua military spokesperson Muhammad Aidi, while reports on the ground suggest 27 people have died in an equally remote and mountainous district named Oksibil. But the difficult terrain means the team will not arrive in Oksibil until Monday at the earliest, Aidi added. Jakarta proclaimed western Papua to be part of Indonesia after a self-determination referendum in 1969 which some regarded it as a sham. When President Joko Widodo took office in 2014 he vowed to speed up the development in infrastructure in Papua to speed up economic growth.

Source: The Express Tribune January 21, 2018 09:11 UTC