27 die of diarrhoea in Indonesia's Papua

At least 27 people have died of diarrhoea and malnutrition in Indonesia's province of Papua.

At least 27 people, most of them infants, have died of diarrhoea and malnutrition in a remote district in Indonesia's province of Papua, state media say.

The news came after an outbreak of measles killed 68 people in another impoverished part of the resource-rich province.

At least 23 infants and four adults have died in the Okbab area of Pegunungan Bintang district, local health chief Jeremias Tapyor told the state-run Antara news agency.

A team of doctors, nurses and nutritionists had been sent to the area, Tapyor said.

The government in Jakarta has also dispatched aid supplies and health workers to Asmat district, where scores of people died in a measles outbreak.

The adverse effects of measles had been exacerbated by malnutrition, resulting in the high death toll, officials said.