Handout from APOPO an organisation that trains rats to detect landmines and TB

1. Saving lives from disaster and disease by
training HeroRATS
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

2. Our Mission
To become the Centre of Exellence in detection rats technology,
to enhance the impact of life saving actions in vulnerable communities
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

3. 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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

4. What trained rats can do? Search 100m2 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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

5. Impact Mine Action
Trained 53 HeroRATS in 2008
Tasked by the Mozambican Government with the entire Gaza province,
with 3.7 Km2 of 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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

6. 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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

7. Operational countries 2008:
Tanzania: training and R&D
for both demining and TB
Mozambique: demining operations,
deploying 36 mine detection rats
accredited by Mozambican Mine Action
Authority since 2004
Headquarters at Sokoine University,
Morogoro, Tanzania since 2000
2009-2011: replication in GLR priority
border zones Angola and Sudan,
replication TB research in South Africa
TB Research & Development
2006: Great Lakes Region
endorsed HeroRATS for replication
in 11 countries. Countries can choose from
entire portfolio of APOPO services
Expression of interest
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

8. 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 Trrough ‘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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

9. APOPO: 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
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org

10. We invite you to support us
and to visit
our operations in Africa!
www.apopo.org
www.herorat.org
Contact: Bart Weetjens & Christophe Cox • Directors September 2009
Po box 3078 • Morogoro • Tanzania • Tel +255 754 272 572 & +255 713 740 740 • e-mail: apopo@apopo.org