206 children die from malnutrition in Argentina

Malnutrition has killed 206 children so far this year in Argentina's impoverished northeastern province of Misiones, Governor Maurice Closs said Monday.

"Ours is a poor province with endemic poverty," Closs told TN television in confirming the toll.

Misiones, which borders Paraguay and Brazil, has an infant mortality rate of 12.3 per thousand, but in the 1990s, the rate jumped to 33 per thousand, the governor said as he pitched a plan dubbed "Hambre Cero" (Zero Hunger).

Argentina's official infant mortality rate stands at 13.8 per thousand. Malnutrition affects 12.1 percent of children nationwide with the northeastern and northern regions hardest hit, according to Health Ministry figures for 2009.

Closs, whose province relies on revenue from agricultural and tourism, said federal subsidies had helped 130,000 children, but noted that 6,000 cases of malnutrition remain.

The national poverty rate fell to 12 per cent during the first half of 2010, down from 13.9 percent during the same period last year.