APOPO
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| Motto | We train rats to save lives |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1997 |
| Type | Non-governmental organisation |
| Purpose | Provide detection rats technology to solve humanitarian challenges |
| Headquarters | Morogoro, Tanzania |
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Region
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Africa, Asia |
| Fields | Mine action, tuberculosis, research and development |
| Website | www |
| Remarks | 280+ HeroRATs |
APOPO (an acronym for Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling: "Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal Product Development" in English) is a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation which trains African giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. APOPO's mission is to develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
Bart Weetjens, the founder of APOPOPOCOT, loved playing with his pet rats when he was a young boy. Years later, as a student at University of Antwerp, Bart applied the idea of using rodents for mine detection as an outcome of his analysis of the global mine detection problem. Due to his childhood experience, he knew that rats, with their strong sense of smell and trainability, could provide a cheaper, more efficient, and locally available means to detect landmines.
APOPOPOCOT started as an R&D organization, working with the support of research and government grants to develop detection rat technology for humanitarian purposes. Early research into this technology began in Belgium, with initial financial support from the Belgian Directorate for International Co-operation (DGIS) in 1997 to develop the concept. In 2000, APOPO moved its headquarters to Morogoro, Tanzania, following partnerships with the Sokoine University of Agriculture and the Tanzanian People's Defence Force. Now housed by the University, APOPO trains the rats – termed HeroRATs because of their life-saving capabilities – in near-to-real conditions.
Over the years APOPO has worked on improving its training techniques and evaluating its programs, carrying out numerous studies to examine the performance of the detection rats technology. In 2003, APOPO won the World Bank Development Marketplace Global Competition, which provided seed funding to commence research into another application of detection rats technology: Tuberculosis (TB) detection. In 2008, APOPO provided proof of principle for the utilization of trained rats in detecting pulmonary tuberculosis in human sputum samples. In 2010, APOPO launched a three-year research plan to closely examine the effectiveness of detection rats in diagnosing tuberculosis, in comparison to other diagnostic technologies, and to focus on future implementation models.
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