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APOPO (an acronym for Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling: "Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development" in English) is a registered Belgian
non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
and US non-profit which trains
southern giant pouched rat The southern giant pouched rat (''Cricetomys ansorgei'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It is distributed in the savannah of East and Southern Africa. Synonyms A large number of synonyms have been noted for this species. They i ...
s to detect
landmine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s and
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
.APOPO - Who We Are
They call their trained rats 'HeroRATs'.APOPO - Training HeroRATs


History

APOPO started as an R&D organization in
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
in the 1990s, working with the support of research and government grants to develop the concept of Detection Rats Technology. As a pet owner, Bart Weetjens, one of the co-founders, came across an article about
gerbil The Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (''Meriones unguiculatus'') is a small rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Their body size is typically , with a tail, and body weight , with adult males larger than females. The animal is use ...
s being used as scent detectors. He believed that rats, with their strong sense of smell and ability to be trained, could provide a better means to detect landmines. Weetjens's former university lecturer Prof. Mic Billet, the founder of the Institute for Product Development at Antwerp University, fully supported the idea and made his personal resources available for further investigation and promotion of the new initiative. After consulting with Professor Ron Verhagen, rodent expert at the department of evolutionary biology of the University of Antwerp, the
Gambian pouched rat The Gambian pouched rat (''Cricetomys gambianus''), also Common name, commonly known as the African giant pouched rat, is a species of nocturnal pouched rat of the giant pouched rat genus ''Cricetomys'', in the Family (biology), family Nesomyidae ...
was determined to be the best candidate due to its longevity and African origin.APOPO - History
The APOPO project was launched on 1 November 1997 by Bart Weetjens and his former schoolmate Christophe Cox. Both Weetjens and Cox had previously collaborated in a not-for-profit organisation that had been headed by Prof. Mic Billet, and together they started building a kennel facility for the training and breeding of African giant pouched rats. They contacted the
Sokoine University of Agriculture Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) is a public university in Morogoro, Tanzania, specializing in agriculture. The university is named after the country's second prime minister Edward Sokoine. Introduction Sokoine University of Agriculture ...
(SUA) in
Morogoro Morogoro is a city in the eastern part of Tanzania west of Dar es Salaam. Morogoro is the capital of the Morogoro Region. It is also known informally as "Mji kasoro bahari" which translates to “city short of an ocean/port." The Belgian based ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, and placed an order for the import of Gambian pouched rats. Initial financial support came in 1997 from Belgian government foreign development aid funds. In 2000 it moved its training and headquarters to SUA, partnering with the Tanzanian People's Defence Force. In 2003 APOPO was awarded a grant from the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, which provided seed funding to research another application of the rats: tuberculosis (TB) detection at SUA. Weetjens got a three-year personal grant from Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in 2007. A TB detection program in Tanzania was launched in mid-2007 as a partnership with four government clinics. In 2008 proof of principle was provided in using trained rats to detect
pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in human
sputum Sputum is mucus that is coughed up from the lower airways (the trachea and bronchi). In medicine, sputum samples are usually used for a naked eye examination, microbiological investigation of respiratory infections and cytological investigations ...
samples. In 2010 a research plan to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the rats in diagnosing tuberculosis was started. The same year APOPO developed an automated training cage in order to remove human bias. The rats' response is measured by optical sensors and the cage produces an automated click sound with food delivery. Following results in Tanzania, the TB detection program was replicated in 2013 at a clinic in
Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...
, Mozambique, at the veterinary department of the
Eduardo Mondlane University , image = , image_size = , former_names = , motto = , type = Public , established = 21 August 1962 , rector = Manuel Guilherme Júnior, PhD , students = 39,078 (2015) , undergrad = 35,809 , ...
. In 2014, in partnership with the Central Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, the National Institute of Medical Research and the
Center for Infectious Disease Research The Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) is housed at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee. The CIDR houses a BSL3 laboratory. As of 2021, its focus is "on understanding the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis related to i ...
in
Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
, a study undertaken to determine the accuracy of the rats in a population of presumptive TB patients. In 2014 five additional health centres joined the TB detection programme in Maputo. In 2016 APOPO covered almost 100% of all the suspect TB patients who go to clinics in the city, and the TB detection program in Tanzania had expanded to 28 clinics in three areas and processed around 800 samples per week. After the first 11 rats were given accreditation according to International Mine Action Standards in 2004, beginning in 2006 machinery for ground preparation, manual deminers and the rats assisted with detection in long-running mine clearance operations in
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. Tasked in 2008 as the sole operator to clear
Gaza Province Gaza is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 75,709 km2 and a population of 1,422,460 (2017 census), which is the least populous of all the provinces of Mozambique. Xai-Xai is the capital of the province. Inhambane Province is to t ...
, the province was mine-free in 2012, one year ahead of schedule. In 2013 the government allowed APOPO to expand its operations in
Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...
, Manica, Sofaka and
Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...
provinces. Mozambique was officially declared free of all landmines on 17 September 2015. APOPO assisted the government with clearing five provinces. Sixteen rats were maintained in the country at the request of the government in order to carry out residual (mop-up) tasks. In
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
APOPO has worked for
Norwegian People's Aid Norwegian People's Aid ( no, Norsk Folkehjelp) was founded in 1939 to provide post-conflict reconstruction assistance and humanitarian relief during conflicts. NPA is now engaged in more than 33 countries in de-mining, humanitarian relief, promot ...
since 2012. From 2013-2015 up to 31 rats assisted demining by heavy machinery and people with metal detectors at two sites, Ngola-Luije in
Malanje Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola, with a population of 455,000 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 506,847 (2014 census). Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent be ...
and in Malele in
Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
province, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo. 49 hectares were cleared. The Malele site was cleared one year in advance. In 2016 rats assisted clearance at a site in Ndondele Mpasi, Zaire province. In early 2014 the national
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
Mine Action Centre (CMAC) started demining a site, with the help of Norwegian Peoples Aid, using conventional mine clearance methods. Following a six-month acclimatization and training period, 14 out of the 16 rats were accredited by CMAC in November 2015 to be used in mine clearance operations. Two Cambodian handlers spent six months in the training centre in Tanzania. By June 2016 the first minefield was cleared. In 2017 a visitor centre was opened in
Siem Reap Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...
.


Organization

APOPO operational headquarters, including the training and research centers, are based at the
Sokoine University of Agriculture Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) is a public university in Morogoro, Tanzania, specializing in agriculture. The university is named after the country's second prime minister Edward Sokoine. Introduction Sokoine University of Agriculture ...
in Morogoro, Tanzania. It has field offices for its mine action programmes in Mozambique, Angola and Cambodia as of 2016. The TB programmes are operational in Tanzania and Mozambique, with offices based in Morogoro,
Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...
and Maputo. It has also two fundraising offices in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and in the United States, and an administrative support office in Antwerp (Belgium). An APOPO foundation was established in
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
in 2015 to support APOPO's global activities with financial resources, networking among mine clearance and tuberculosis stakeholders, and increasing visibility. An office was set up in the United States to better access important institutional donors and public funding. The U.S. office was registered as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization in 2015, which enables public and corporation donations to be tax deductible. In 2014 APOPO set up a TB Scientific Advisory Committee to provide credibility. APOPO also has a research and development centre. As of June 2016, APOPO employed over 190 staff in the local operations and 14 international staff, and had 260 rats in various stages of breeding, detection training, research, or operations.


Scent detection training

Full training takes approximately nine months on average, and is followed by a series of accreditation tests. Once trained, rats are able to work for approximately four to five years before they get retired. All of the rats are bred and trained in the Morogoro breeding and training centre. One rat costs approximately 6,000 euros to train. Training starts with
socialization In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultur ...
at the age of 5–6 weeks and then through the principles of '
operant conditioning Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process where behaviors are modified through the association of stimuli with reinforcement or punishment. In it, operants—behaviors that affect one's environment—are c ...
'. After two weeks they learn to associate a "click" sound with a food reward – banana or peanuts. Once they know that "click" means food, the rats are ready to be trained on a target scent. According to the type of specialization, a series of training stages are followed, each one building on skills learned in the previous stage. The complexity of their tasks gradually increases until they have to do a final
blind test In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...
. Rats that fail the test are retired and are cared for the rest of their life.


Detecting landmines

When the southern giant pouched rats ('' Cricetomys ansorgei'') used by APOPO are flown in, they must first be acclimatised to the specific country, and be accredited by the local national agency, which takes a number of months. Rats are only a component of integrated demining operations.
Metal detector A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...
s and mechanical demining machines are also still necessary. Before the rats can be used, the land must first be prepared with special heavy machinery to cut the brush to ground level. Paths must also be cleared by conventional metal detectors at every 2m intervals for the handlers to safely walk on. The rats wear harnesses connected to a rope suspended between two handlers. Rats are led to search a demarcated zone of 10 x 20m () and indicate the scent of explosives usually by scratching at the ground. The points indicated by the rats are marked, and then followed up later by technicians using metal detectors; the mines that are found are then excavated by hand and destroyed.APOPO - Mine action


Advantages

According to the NGO the main advantage over conventional methods is speed. They point to past studies that show that less than 3 percent of landmine suspected land actually contains any landmines. Animals such as dogs or rats detect only explosives and ignore scrap metal such as old coins, nuts and bolts etc., thus they are able to check areas of land faster than conventional methods. They claim that one rat can check in around 20 minutes. In Angola, however, from 2012 to 2016 were cleared as part of a team including conventional equipment, indicating a 35,000% slower rate in the field. The rats are indigenous to
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
, so are suited to tropical climates and could be resistant to many endemic diseases. Few resources are needed to train and raise a rat to adulthood and they have a lifespan of six to eight years. Furthermore, rats do not form bonds with specific trainers like dogs but rather are motivated to work for food, so trained rats can be transferred between handlers. In the minefields, the rats are too light to detonate a pressure-activated mine when walking over it. Their small size also means that the rats can be more easily transported to sites than dogs.- APOPO - Why rats?


Criticisms and limitations

It was noted that rats cannot search reliably in areas of thick vegetation and often search more erratically than humans, offering a lower level of assurance that the land is mine-free. Additionally, they can only work for short periods in the heat, limiting their output. Manual demining teams are still the globally preferred method of landmine clearance, and currently APOPO is the only organisation in the world to use giant rats.


Detecting tuberculosis

Sputum samples that have already been conventionally tested are retested by the rats. The rats sniff a series of holes in a glass chamber, under which sputum samples are placed. When a rat detects tuberculosis (TB), it indicates this by keeping its nose in the sample hole and/or scratching at the floor of the cage.APOPO - Tuberculosis detection
The program began in Tanzania in 2007, double-checking samples from four government clinics, by 2016 some 1000 samples a week were sent by 24 clinics in and around Dar es Salaam and Morogoro. The rats have been screening samples from clinics in Mozambique since 2013. APOPO have a facility at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. In 2015 14 health centres in the city worked with it. The key advantage of the rats is speed. Public clinics use microscopy to detect TB; this is slow and imprecise. In Mozambique only 50% of TB positive patients tested at clinics are actually identified, so the rats are used to double check the samples. According to the NGO, one trained rat can evaluate 40 samples in 7 minutes, which a laboratory technician can process in a day. The rats make it possible to mass-screen many samples. They work at low cost and a fast pace. APOPO suggests it increased the detection of TB patients by over 40%. In 2015 the rats screened more than 40,000 sputum samples, thereby identifying over 1,150 positive samples that were missed by microscopy. APOPO assisted Maputo
DOTS Directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS, also known as TB-DOTS) is the name given to the tuberculosis (TB) control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, "The most cost-effective way to stop the spread of T ...
public health clinics increase TB detection rate by 48% and contributed to halting 3,800 potential TB infections. Over 9,166 presumptive TB patients evaluated by the rats in 2015, 666 missed by conventional methods were diagnosed. In 2015 APOPO began a study with the support of the USAID, screening prisoners in Tanzanian and Mozambican jails for tuberculosis. This study aimed to convince decision makers of the rats' use. In 2015 to 2016 more than 2,500 prisoners were to be tested for TB in Mozambique and Tanzania.


Fundraising

APOPO has been funded by the
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
,
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
,
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
and
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
governments, the Polish government, the
United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
, the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
,
USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
, HDIF, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the
Province of Antwerp ) , native_name_lang = nl , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Antwerp.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van de provincie Antwerpen.svg , shield_size ...
, the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, the UBS Optimus Foundation, Trafigura Group, JTIF, the
Skoll Foundation The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999. The total assets of the foundation (includi ...
, Only The Brave Foundation and the lotteries from Sweden, the UK and Holland. It also receives money from private donors and public fundraising campaigns.


Awards

* 2016 : ranked 16th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs. * 2015 : ranked 24th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs. * 2013 : ranked 11th on the 'Top 100 NGO's' Global Journal's list. The organization is also featured in the top three lists for the best NGOs in terms of innovation and in the peace-building sector. * 2013 : received the first level of "C2E" (committed to excellence) accreditation from the
EFQM EFQM (the European Foundation for Quality Management) is a not-for-profit membership foundation in Brussels, established in 1989 when the CEO/presidents of 67 European companies subscribed to the policy document and declared their commitments to E ...
. * 2020 :
Magawa Magawa (November 2013 – January 2022) was a Gambian pouched rat (''Cricetomys ansorgei'') that worked as a HeroRAT sniffing out landmines in Cambodia for the non-governmental organization APOPO (in English, Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal P ...
, a giant pouched rat trained by APOPO, received the
PDSA Gold Medal __NOTOC__ The PDSA Gold Medal is an animal bravery award that acknowledges the bravery and devotion to duty of animals. It was created by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in 2001, and is now recognised as the animal equivalent o ...
for detecting unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.


See also

*
Giant pouched rat The giant pouched rats (genus ''Cricetomys'') of sub-Saharan Africa are large muroid rodents. Their head and body lengths range from with scaly tails ranging from . They weigh between . Taxonomy Giant pouched rats are only distantly related to ...
- genus *
Mine clearance agencies A mine clearance organization, or demining organization, is an organization involved in the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) for military, humanitarian, or commercial reasons. Demining includes mine clearance (actual removal and d ...


References

{{Reflist


External links


APOPO website





Mankind's new best friend?: Trained giant rats sniff out land mines, tuberculosisRats to the rescue

TED Talk by Bart Weetjens
Mine warfare and mine clearance organizations Working animals Mine warfare countermeasures Tuberculosis organizations Organizations established in 1997 Organisations based in Tanzania Non-governmental organizations Non-profit organizations based in Africa