DHARBHANGA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Palak was found barely breathing buried under a mound of soil in an impoverished village in Bihar, doctors who treated the abandoned new-born girl knew that nursing her back to health would not be easy.
Two months on, Palak's tiny frame - weighing half of what it should for her age - lies crumpled in a bed in a malnutrition intensive care unit in Bihar state, as she feebly cries for attention.
Despite India's economic boom over the last two decades, 46 percent of its children under five are underweight, 48 percent are stunted and 25 percent are wasted, according to the latest government figures.
But what is not so widely known is that the majority are girls, like Palak - abandoned, neglected or given less nutritious food than their male siblings, say health workers, attributing it to patriarchal attitudes in the country.
"A healthy, five-month-old baby should weigh at least 5 kilograms (11lb), but we come across two-year-olds weighing that," said Ziaul Haque, medical activities manager for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) India, which runs the centre in Dharbhanga district.
"Girls constitute more than two-thirds of patients, who are admitted and also those who drop out before completing the treatment," he added.
GIRLS GET LESS
Child malnutrition is an underlying cause of death for 3 million children annually across the world - nearly half of all child deaths - with most dying from preventable illnesses like diarrhoea due to weak immune systems, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.
Those lucky enough to survive, grow up without enough energy, protein, vitamins and minerals, causing their brains and bodies to be stunted which means they cannot fulfill their physical, academic or economic potential.
Increasing studies show that malnutrition rates are much higher in girls than in boys.
