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APOPO

APOPO (Dutch: Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling, lit.'Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development'[1]) is a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation and US non-profit which trains southern giant pouched rats[1] to detect landmines and tuberculosis.[2] They call their trained rats 'HeroRATs'.[3]

APOPO
Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling
Formation1997
TypeNon-governmental organization
PurposeTo develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
HeadquartersMorogoro, Tanzania
Region
Africa, Asia, South America
FieldsMine action, tuberculosis, research and development, disaster relief
Websitewww.apopo.org
One of APOPO's "HeroRATs" in Cambodia

History edit

APOPO started as an R&D organization in Belgium 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 gerbils 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 was determined to be the best candidate due to its longevity and African origin.[4] 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 (SUA) in Morogoro, Tanzania, and placed an order for the import of Gambian pouched rats.

Initial financial support came in 1997 from Belgian government foreign development aid funds.[4] 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, which provided seed funding to research another application of the rats: tuberculosis (TB) detection at SUA.[5] Weetjens got a three-year personal grant from Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in 2007.[6] A TB detection program in Tanzania was launched in mid-2007 as a partnership with four government clinics.[7] In 2008 proof of principle was provided in using trained rats to detect pulmonary tuberculosis in human sputum samples. In 2010 a research plan to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the rats in diagnosing tuberculosis was started.[4] 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.[8]

Following results in Tanzania, the TB detection program was replicated in 2013 at a clinic in Maputo, Mozambique, at the veterinary department of the Eduardo Mondlane University.[9] In 2014, in partnership with the Central Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, the National Institute of Medical Research and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, a study undertaken to determine the accuracy of the rats in a population of presumptive TB patients.[8] 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,[9] and the TB detection program in Tanzania had expanded to 28 clinics in three areas and processed around 800 samples per week.[7]

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.[4][10] Tasked in 2008 as the sole operator to clear Gaza Province, the province was mine-free in 2012, one year ahead of schedule. In 2013 the government allowed APOPO to expand its operations in Maputo, Manica, Sofaka and Tete provinces.[11] Mozambique was officially declared free of all landmines on 17 September 2015. APOPO assisted the government with clearing five provinces.[12] Sixteen rats were maintained in the country at the request of the government in order to carry out residual (mop-up) tasks.[8]

In Angola APOPO has worked for Norwegian People's Aid since 2012. From 2013 to 2015 up to 31 rats assisted demining by heavy machinery and people with metal detectors at two sites, Ngola-Luije in Malanje and in Malele in Zaire province, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.[10][11] 49 hectares were cleared.[10] The 52 ha (130 acres) Malele site was cleared one year in advance.[11] In 2016 rats assisted clearance at a site in Ndondele Mpasi, Zaire province.[13]

In early 2014 the national Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC) started demining a site, with the help of Norwegian Peoples Aid, using conventional mine clearance methods.[10][14] 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.[11] Two Cambodian handlers spent six months in the training centre in Tanzania.[11] By June 2016 the first minefield was cleared.[8] In 2017 a visitor centre was opened in Siem Reap.[15]

Organization edit

APOPO operational headquarters, including the training and research centers, are based at the 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 and Maputo. It has also two fundraising offices in Switzerland and in the United States, and an administrative support office in Antwerp (Belgium).

An APOPO foundation was established in Geneva 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 edit

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.[3] All of the rats are bred and trained in the Morogoro breeding and training centre.[16] One rat costs approximately 6,000 euros to train.[3]

Training starts with socialization at the age of 5–6 weeks and then through the principles of 'operant conditioning'.[3][17] 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. Rats that fail the test are retired and are cared for the rest of their life.[3]

Detecting landmines edit

When the southern giant pouched rats (Cricetomys ansorgei) used by APOPO[18] 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.[17]

Rats are only a component of integrated demining operations. Metal detectors 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.[10][19]

The rats wear harnesses connected to a rope suspended between two handlers. Rats are led to search a demarcated zone of 10 x 20m (200 m2 [2,200 sq ft]) 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.[19][20][21]

Advantages edit

According to the NGO, the main advantage over conventional methods is speed. They point to past studies that show that less than three 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.[22] They claim that one rat can check 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft) in around 20 minutes.[23] In the field, the practical rate is slower: rats are capable of searching up to 400 m2 (4,300 sq ft) each per day as part of a team that includes conventional equipment.[10]

The rats are indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa 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 they can be more easily transported to sites than dogs.[18]

Criticisms and limitations edit

It has been 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.[17][19][21]

Detecting tuberculosis edit

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.[24] 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.[25] According to the NGO, one trained rat can evaluate 40 samples in 7 minutes, which a laboratory technician can process in a day.[24] 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%.[26]

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 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.[27]

Fundraising edit

APOPO has been funded by the Belgian, Flemish, Norwegian and Liechtenstein governments, the Polish government,[28] the United Nations Development Programme, the National Institutes of Health, USAID, HDIF, the European Union, the Province of Antwerp, the World Bank, the UBS Optimus Foundation, Trafigura Group, JTIF, the Skoll Foundation[29][non-primary source needed], Only The Brave Foundation and the lotteries from Sweden, the UK and Holland. It also receives money from private donors and public fundraising campaigns.[citation needed]

Awards edit

  • 2016 : ranked 16th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs.[30]
  • 2015 : ranked 24th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs.[31]
  • 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.[32]
  • 2013 : received the first level of "C2E" (committed to excellence) accreditation from the EFQM.[33]
  • 2020 : Magawa, a giant pouched rat trained by APOPO, received the PDSA Gold Medal for detecting unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.[34]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions". Apopo.org. 14 May 2016. from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. ^ APOPO – Who We Are 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c d e APOPO – Training HeroRATs 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c d APOPO - History January 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ . worldbank.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  6. ^ . Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Tanzania TB Detection". www.apopo.org. from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d . www.apopo.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  9. ^ a b . www.apopo.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Efficiency and Effectiveness Study using MDR capability" (PDF). GICHD. (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e APOPO, HeroRATs. (PDF). www.apopo.org. APOPO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  12. ^ . www.apopo.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  13. ^ . www.apopo.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  14. ^ "CMAC website". cmac.gov.kh/. from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  15. ^ "APOPO Visitor Center". Apopo.org. from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  16. ^ . www.apopo.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  17. ^ a b c Poling, Alan; Weetjens, Bart J.; Cox, Christophe; Beyene, Negussie; Bach, Håvard; Sully, Andrew (2010). "Teaching Giant African Pouched Rats to Find Landmines: Operant Conditioning With Real Consequences". Behavior Analysis in Practice. 3 (2): 19–25. doi:10.1007/BF03391761. PMC 3004686. PMID 22532890.
  18. ^ a b - APOPO - Why rats? 2016-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ a b c Smith, Andy. "Using animals as detectors". nolandmines.com. Humanitarian Mine Action. from the original on 16 March 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  20. ^ APOPO - Mine action 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ a b Beiser, Vince (1 March 2010). "Desperately Seeking Landmines". Pacific Standard. Washington, D.C.: SAGE Publishing. from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  22. ^ BACH, Håvard; PHELAN, James (2003). Appendix T: CANINE-ASSISTED DETECTION in HLD NEEDS – Alternatives for Landmine Detection (PDF). MBI Publishing Company. pp. 285–298. (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  23. ^ (PDF). APOPO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  24. ^ a b APOPO - Tuberculosis detection 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Cengel, Katya. . news.nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  26. ^ "Giant African Rats Successfully Detect Tuberculosis More Accurately Than Commonly Used Techniques". Newswise. 14 December 2011. from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  27. ^ Kizito, Makoye (29 March 2016). "Giant rats to sniff out tuberculosis in Tanzania, Mozambique prisons". www.reuters.com. from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  28. ^ "Polish support for TB clinics in Dodoma andMorogoro regions".
  29. ^ . Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  30. ^ "Top 500 NGOs World 2016". www.ngoadvisor.net/ong/apopo-temp/. from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  31. ^ "Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs". www.ngoadvisor.net. from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  32. ^ "The Global Journal - The Top 100 NGOs 2013". www.theglobaljournal.net/. from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  33. ^ EFQM. (PDF). www.efqm.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  34. ^ Schaverien, Anna (25 September 2020). "Rat That Sniffs Out Land Mines Receives Award for Bravery". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 September 2020.

External links edit

  • APOPO website
  • The Giant Rats That Save Lives
  • Detecting Tuberculosis: No Microscopes, Just Rats
  • Rats to the rescue
  • TED Talk by Bart Weetjens

apopo, this, article, contain, excessive, inappropriate, references, self, published, sources, please, help, improve, removing, references, unreliable, sources, where, they, used, inappropriately, february, 2018, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, d. This article may contain excessive or inappropriate references to self published sources Please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources where they are used inappropriately February 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message APOPO Dutch Anti Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling lit Anti Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development 1 is a registered Belgian non governmental organisation and US non profit which trains southern giant pouched rats 1 to detect landmines and tuberculosis 2 They call their trained rats HeroRATs 3 APOPOAnti Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product OntwikkelingFormation1997TypeNon governmental organizationPurposeTo develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change HeadquartersMorogoro TanzaniaRegionAfrica Asia South AmericaFieldsMine action tuberculosis research and development disaster reliefWebsitewww wbr apopo wbr orgOne of APOPO s HeroRATs in Cambodia Contents 1 History 2 Organization 3 Scent detection training 4 Detecting landmines 4 1 Advantages 4 2 Criticisms and limitations 5 Detecting tuberculosis 6 Fundraising 7 Awards 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksHistory editAPOPO started as an R amp D organization in Belgium 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 gerbils 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 was determined to be the best candidate due to its longevity and African origin 4 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 SUA in Morogoro Tanzania and placed an order for the import of Gambian pouched rats Initial financial support came in 1997 from Belgian government foreign development aid funds 4 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 which provided seed funding to research another application of the rats tuberculosis TB detection at SUA 5 Weetjens got a three year personal grant from Ashoka Innovators for the Public in 2007 6 A TB detection program in Tanzania was launched in mid 2007 as a partnership with four government clinics 7 In 2008 proof of principle was provided in using trained rats to detect pulmonary tuberculosis in human sputum samples In 2010 a research plan to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the rats in diagnosing tuberculosis was started 4 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 8 Following results in Tanzania the TB detection program was replicated in 2013 at a clinic in Maputo Mozambique at the veterinary department of the Eduardo Mondlane University 9 In 2014 in partnership with the Central Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory the National Institute of Medical Research and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia a study undertaken to determine the accuracy of the rats in a population of presumptive TB patients 8 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 9 and the TB detection program in Tanzania had expanded to 28 clinics in three areas and processed around 800 samples per week 7 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 4 10 Tasked in 2008 as the sole operator to clear Gaza Province the province was mine free in 2012 one year ahead of schedule In 2013 the government allowed APOPO to expand its operations in Maputo Manica Sofaka and Tete provinces 11 Mozambique was officially declared free of all landmines on 17 September 2015 APOPO assisted the government with clearing five provinces 12 Sixteen rats were maintained in the country at the request of the government in order to carry out residual mop up tasks 8 In Angola APOPO has worked for Norwegian People s Aid since 2012 From 2013 to 2015 up to 31 rats assisted demining by heavy machinery and people with metal detectors at two sites Ngola Luije in Malanje and in Malele in Zaire province bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo 10 11 49 hectares were cleared 10 The 52 ha 130 acres Malele site was cleared one year in advance 11 In 2016 rats assisted clearance at a site in Ndondele Mpasi Zaire province 13 In early 2014 the national Cambodia Mine Action Centre CMAC started demining a site with the help of Norwegian Peoples Aid using conventional mine clearance methods 10 14 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 11 Two Cambodian handlers spent six months in the training centre in Tanzania 11 By June 2016 the first minefield was cleared 8 In 2017 a visitor centre was opened in Siem Reap 15 Organization editAPOPO operational headquarters including the training and research centers are based at the 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 and Maputo It has also two fundraising offices in Switzerland and in the United States and an administrative support office in Antwerp Belgium An APOPO foundation was established in Geneva 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 editFull 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 3 All of the rats are bred and trained in the Morogoro breeding and training centre 16 One rat costs approximately 6 000 euros to train 3 Training starts with socialization at the age of 5 6 weeks and then through the principles of operant conditioning 3 17 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 Rats that fail the test are retired and are cared for the rest of their life 3 Detecting landmines editWhen the southern giant pouched rats Cricetomys ansorgei used by APOPO 18 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 17 Rats are only a component of integrated demining operations Metal detectors 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 10 19 The rats wear harnesses connected to a rope suspended between two handlers Rats are led to search a demarcated zone of 10 x 20m 200 m2 2 200 sq ft 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 19 20 21 Advantages edit According to the NGO the main advantage over conventional methods is speed They point to past studies that show that less than three 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 22 They claim that one rat can check 200 m2 2 200 sq ft in around 20 minutes 23 In the field the practical rate is slower rats are capable of searching up to 400 m2 4 300 sq ft each per day as part of a team that includes conventional equipment 10 The rats are indigenous to Sub Saharan Africa 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 they can be more easily transported to sites than dogs 18 Criticisms and limitations edit It has been 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 17 19 21 Detecting tuberculosis editSputum 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 24 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 25 According to the NGO one trained rat can evaluate 40 samples in 7 minutes which a laboratory technician can process in a day 24 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 26 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 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 27 Fundraising editAPOPO has been funded by the Belgian Flemish Norwegian and Liechtenstein governments the Polish government 28 the United Nations Development Programme the National Institutes of Health USAID HDIF the European Union the Province of Antwerp the World Bank the UBS Optimus Foundation Trafigura Group JTIF the Skoll Foundation 29 non primary source needed Only The Brave Foundation and the lotteries from Sweden the UK and Holland It also receives money from private donors and public fundraising campaigns citation needed Awards edit2016 ranked 16th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs 30 2015 ranked 24th in the Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs 31 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 32 2013 received the first level of C2E committed to excellence accreditation from the EFQM 33 2020 Magawa a giant pouched rat trained by APOPO received the PDSA Gold Medal for detecting unexploded ordnance in Cambodia 34 See also editGiant pouched rat genus Mine clearance agenciesReferences edit a b Frequently Asked Questions Apopo org 14 May 2016 Archived from the original on 27 December 2017 Retrieved 30 March 2018 APOPO Who We Are Archived 2011 09 27 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e APOPO Training HeroRATs Archived 2011 08 07 at the Wayback Machine a b c d APOPO History Archived January 3 2010 at the Wayback Machine Training African Rats As A Cheap Diagnostic Tool worldbank org Archived from the original on 7 June 2015 Retrieved 23 May 2015 Ashoka Fellowship Archived from the original on 21 November 2008 Retrieved 17 September 2014 a b Tanzania TB Detection www apopo org Archived from the original on 29 March 2019 Retrieved 29 March 2019 a b c d History www apopo org Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 Retrieved 28 June 2016 a b APOPO TB Projects in Mozambique www apopo org Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 Retrieved 28 June 2016 a b c d e f Efficiency and Effectiveness Study using MDR capability PDF GICHD Archived PDF from the original on 13 September 2016 Retrieved 24 August 2016 a b c d e APOPO HeroRATs Annual Report 2015 PDF www apopo org APOPO Archived from the original PDF on 25 September 2016 Retrieved 10 June 2016 Mozambique mine free celebrations www apopo org Archived from the original on 25 September 2016 Retrieved 10 June 2016 Angola www apopo org Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 Retrieved 10 June 2016 CMAC website cmac gov kh Archived from the original on 26 August 2016 Retrieved 24 August 2016 APOPO Visitor Center Apopo org Archived from the original on 29 March 2018 Retrieved 30 March 2018 Tanzania training center www apopo org Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 Retrieved 10 June 2016 a b c Poling Alan Weetjens Bart J Cox Christophe Beyene Negussie Bach Havard Sully Andrew 2010 Teaching Giant African Pouched Rats to Find Landmines Operant Conditioning With Real Consequences Behavior Analysis in Practice 3 2 19 25 doi 10 1007 BF03391761 PMC 3004686 PMID 22532890 a b APOPO Why rats Archived 2016 03 31 at the Wayback Machine a b c Smith Andy Using animals as detectors nolandmines com Humanitarian Mine Action Archived from the original on 16 March 2019 Retrieved 16 August 2018 APOPO Mine action Archived 2011 09 27 at the Wayback Machine a b Beiser Vince 1 March 2010 Desperately Seeking Landmines Pacific Standard Washington D C SAGE Publishing Archived from the original on 18 August 2018 Retrieved 16 August 2018 BACH Havard PHELAN James 2003 Appendix T CANINE ASSISTED DETECTION in HLD NEEDS Alternatives for Landmine Detection PDF MBI Publishing Company pp 285 298 Archived PDF from the original on 4 October 2016 Retrieved 1 June 2016 2014 Annual Report PDF APOPO Archived from the original PDF on 24 September 2016 Retrieved 1 June 2016 a b APOPO Tuberculosis detection Archived 2011 09 27 at the Wayback Machine Cengel Katya Giant Rats Trained to Sniff Out Tuberculosis in Africa news nationalgeographic com National Geographic Archived from the original on 15 August 2016 Retrieved 16 August 2016 Giant African Rats Successfully Detect Tuberculosis More Accurately Than Commonly Used Techniques Newswise 14 December 2011 Archived from the original on 18 December 2010 Retrieved 5 August 2011 Kizito Makoye 29 March 2016 Giant rats to sniff out tuberculosis in Tanzania Mozambique prisons www reuters com Archived from the original on 21 August 2016 Retrieved 16 August 2016 Polish support for TB clinics in Dodoma andMorogoro regions Skoll Entrepreneurship Award Archived from the original on 5 February 2009 Retrieved 17 September 2014 Top 500 NGOs World 2016 www ngoadvisor net ong apopo temp Archived from the original on 4 November 2016 Retrieved 3 November 2016 Global Geneva Top 500 NGOs www ngoadvisor net Archived from the original on 29 June 2016 Retrieved 17 June 2016 The Global Journal The Top 100 NGOs 2013 www theglobaljournal net Archived from the original on 27 August 2016 Retrieved 17 June 2016 EFQM EFQM Excellence Awards 2013 PDF www efqm org Archived from the original PDF on 4 October 2016 Retrieved 17 June 2016 Schaverien Anna 25 September 2020 Rat That Sniffs Out Land Mines Receives Award for Bravery The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 25 September 2020 External links editAPOPO website The Giant Rats That Save Lives The Landmine Sniffing Rats of Mozambique Detecting Tuberculosis No Microscopes Just Rats Rats to the rescue TED Talk by Bart Weetjens Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title APOPO amp oldid 1210151842, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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