APOPO saving lives from disaster and disease by training HeroRats

Download our Handout (PDF-file 4,4Mb) September 2009

Our Mission

To become the Centre of Exellence in detection rats technology, to enhance the impact of life saving actions in vulnerable communities

Why rats?

The African Giant Pouched Rat

• is an intelligent creature, easily conditioned, loves to do repetitive tasks if rewarded with food
• has a highly developed sense of smell
• has an 8-year lifespan with several productive years after initial 1 year of training
• is lightweight, so cannot set off a mine
• compared to dogs: cheaper to breed, feed, house, maintain and transport, does not get attached to one trainer

What trained rats can do?

• Search 100m 2 of suspected land in 20 minutes what would take a manual deminer 2 full days
• Screen 70 sputum samples for TB in 20 minutes what would take a lab technician 2 full days
• Generic technology: wide variety of spin-off applications

Impact Mine Action

• Trained 53 HeroRATS in 2008
• Tasked by the Mozambican Government with the entire Gaza province, with 3.7 Km2of minefields
• Assessed 38.5 Km of highway in South Mozambique
• Cleared over hundreds of landmines, explosive devices and ammunition
• Endorsed by 11 African Great Lakes Region Governments for replication on their territories

Impact TB screening

• Proof of principle for TB-screening by means of HeroRATs
• 87% overall accuracy in real world circumstances (37% for Microscopy)
• 15,041 suspected patients screend in Dar Es Salaam since January 2008
• Among them, HeroRATs diagnosed 577 patients, missed by microscopy
• Increased TB case detection by 31.4% in a target population of 500,000 capita

APOPO current funding

Public governments and institutions

• Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining
• Belgian Federal, regional and local governments (DGDC, Flemish Community, Province of Antwerp)
• National Institute of Health (USA)

Private Support

• Skoll Foundation
• ASHOKA Innovators for the Public
• Schwab Foundation
• King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium & USA)
• UBS Optimus Foundation
• Marie & Alain Philippson Foundation
• Citizen based support Through 'Flowers for peace'
• HeroRAT adoptions

Partners

• Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium
• Sokoine University, Morogoro, Tanzania
• Tanzanian Peoples Defense Forces
• International Conference for the Great Lakes Region
• Max Planck Institute, Germany
• National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania

APOPO

Is a Belgian-Tanzanian social enterprise, established in 1998 at the University of Antwerp, in close cooperation with Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

• Over 100 employees in Africa
• R&D team, Trainers, Logistics, Maintenance & Breeding, In country operations, Management
• Annual operating budget > $1.5 million

We invite you to support us and to visit our operations in Africa!

• www.apopo.org
• www.herorat.org

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Paper art HeroRat

Download our paper art HeroRat, designed by Satoshi Kitamura (PDF-file 5,4Mb)

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Download our Fact Sheet (PDF-file 1,8Mb)