Recent malaria outbreaks in two Indonesian provinces have claimed the lives of at least 24 people and sickened more than 600, local media reports said Thursday.

Malaria virus has killed at least 19 since the beginning of the year in South Kalimantan province on the Indonesian side of Borneo Island, Kompas daily reported. The outbreaks occurred in several villages in the districts of Banjar, Tabalong and Balangan, local health officials were quoted as saying.

More than 400 people were treated at public health centers and general hospitals in the affected areas. In 2006, around 8,000 malaria cases were recorded in South Kalimantan province, killing at least 10 people.

Another malaria outbreak in West Timor province during the past several weeks has killed five people and sickened more than 230 others, the Media Indonesia daily reported.

"Around 95 million people, or 42 percent of the total population in Indonesia, are risk of malaria," said Ferdinand Leihad, deputy principal recipient of Global Fund against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"In Indonesia, 310 out of a total of 441 districts are endemic areas," Leihad said, including on the islands of Sumatra, Maluku, Papua and several eastern islands within East Nusa Tenggara province.

Indonesia's climate provides ideal breeding grounds for the anopheles mosquitoes that carry the virus. According to health officials, there are up to 80 anopheles species in Indonesia, many of which were known to have built up resistance to certain insecticides, making eradication more difficult.

"It is important that the most vulnerable people - pregnant women and children under the age of 5 years - sleep under mosquito nets to avoid malaria," Ferdinand told reporters.

More than 1 million people worldwide die of malaria annually, 90 per cent of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization.