Around | Pakistan

Around a million children were missed and 53,000 refusals were reported during the year’s first nationwide polio campaign. The largest share of refusals, i.e. 58 per cent, was reported from Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. The campaign concluded on February 5 in most cities, while the campaign ran till February 8 in Sindh. During the campaign, polio drops were administered to more than 44.3 million children, marking a significant milestone in Pakistan’s continued efforts to eradicate polio. While the data shows that the polio programme achieved overall household coverage of 98pc, with 2pc children missed, the number of missed children is still huge and worrisome given Pakistan’s population. Overall, 0.95m children were reported as missed during the campaign. A large proportion of these (0.67m) were missed because children were not available at home at the time of vaccination. During the campaign, 2.5 million guest children were vaccinated, likely covering a substantial share of children recorded as not being...

Jemele Hill and Kate Fagan return to ESPN’s Around the Horn for one-day appearance ahead of show’s May 23 finale.