HeroRATS: Training Rats to Save African Lives

Summary

This project trains rats to detect landmines and TB in Africa. APOPO creates local expertise in animal detection and provides detection services to humanitarian and public health institutions.

How You Can Help

Make a donation
	$19 - Will diagnose 100 Tanzanians with suspected TB
	$92 - Will provide a HeroRAT's food, maintenance and health care for a year
	$5,000 - Is the unit cost for salary and basic training per African HeroRAT trainer
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	$ Other amount

Received $364 from 6 donations from people like:

Robert

(Anon.)

+

YOU!

Give now to become donor #7!

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More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

APOPO addresses the need for cheap, reliable, and locally manageable detection technologies to serve humanitarian goals. APOPO deploys HeroRATS in mine clearance in Mozambique. APOPO offers its beneficiaries safe return to their homesteads, and access to essential infrastructure. In Tanzania, APOPO teaches African staff from the Great Lakes Region how to train HeroRATS, and currently offers TB diagnostic services to 500.000 slum dwellers in Dar Es Salaam.

Activities

We operate a HeroRAT diagnostic lab. A rat can assess 40 samples in 7 minutes, that is a lab technician's day workload. We collect samples from TB DOTs centers and screen them with HeroRATS. They find TB patients that have been missed by a microscope

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $364
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $732,385
Total Funding Goal: $732,749

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Excel file (projdoc.xls).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

The project will increase TB case findings in Tanzania (currently only 45%) up to 70%. The spread of TB will be curbed and local communities will have a sustainable technology to control public health.

Project Message

What I saw at APOPO was even more wonderful than I had imagined it. The fact that the rats follow the trainers back to their boxes and don't try to run away. All of this is just…, it's so beautiful!
- Dr. Jane Goodall, UN ambassador for Peace

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Bart Weetjens,
Founder and Director
SUA-APOPO
PO box 3078
Sokoine University, Morogoro
Tanzania
255754272572
Email:

Project Sponsor

Ashoka Innovators for the Public

Organization

APOPO vzw
APOPO vzw
Groenenborgerlaan 171
Antwerpen, Belgium B-2020
Belgium
+32-474-362799
http://www.apopo.org and http://www.herorat.org

Learn more about APOPO vzw and the project team.

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Tanzania and can also be found under Health.

For more information about Tanzania, read the Human Development Report on Tanzania or the Wikipedia entry for Tanzania.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on December 17, 2007.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on December 17, 2007.

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