We hope your year is off to a
great start! Here at APOPO we are enjoying a year full of new
beginnings and look forward to conquering new challenges and
creating new solutions in Tanzania and Mozambique.
First and
foremost, we wish to thank all of our dedicated supporters for your
continuous backing. Without your encouragement and contributions,
the work of our HeroRATS would not be possible. We look forward to
seeing all we can accomplish together this year!
In
Tanzania, the HeroRATS have
been busy working as usual—training, breeding, and researching
Tuberculosis detection. 11 rats passed their final stages of
training in December bringing the total to 53 fully trained mine detection
rats in 2008! We were also blessed with ten new baby rats in our
breeding program last month. We are looking forward to seeing
those numbers increase in the coming year. In the Tuberculosis
detection program, the HeroRATS were able to identify 344 patients
over the last year that were missed by human lab technicians! Those
patients were contacted again by the hospitals and are now receiving
treatment.
Throughout 2008 in Mozambique, our HeroRATS found
33 mines and 83 Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). Additionally,
due to continuous process refinement by the staff and our Program
Director, we have had a giant leap in our clearance capacity;
HeroRATS can now clear 2,000 square meters every day. In this issue,
you will also have the opportunity to learn more about one of our
mine detection rat handlers in Mozambique, Zacharia.
Part of
our plan for the new year is to develop Tanzania as the Center of
Excellence in rat detection technology. By developing, promoting and
managing high quality standards of rat detection technology, we will
not only continue to produce the highest quality services for our
stakeholders, the citizens in the countries in which we work, but
also increase our potential for impact by training others to use our
HeroRAT detection technology, subsequently clearing more land and
eliminating landmine terror on a broader scale. In this issue of the
HeroRATS Newsletter, Roger Abrantes will introduce you to one of
APOPO’s first steps to work towards becoming this Center of
Excellence: The APOPO Handbook for Trainers. We are very excited to
share the development of this important step to standardize the
training procedures of the HeroRATS to insure quality detection
reaches those who need it most.
In other exciting news, Exmoor Zoo in
Barnstable, England hosted a first ever HeroRAT Day to promote the
work of our HeroRATS. The day was such a success that the zoo was
recognized for their efforts with The Best Education Project Award
in the 2008 BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and
Aquariums) Awards. Many thanks for your enthusiasm, and
congratulations to Exmoor Zoo!
As we look back at a year of
many achievements, we look forward to new beginnings and sharing
2009’s achievements with you.
To the future and what we can
accomplish together,
Last year our HeroRATS detected 344
cases of Tuberculosis that were missed by human lab technicians.
Since our HeroRATS are still completing the validation study that
will allow us to be a first screening test for Tuberculosis
(meaning people will come to the rats first), we currently offer 4
hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania a second analysis of the sputum
samples they have already screened.
For those
unfamiliar with Tuberculosis testing, sputum samples are a mixture
of saliva and mucus or phlegm that is produced orally. The
current method for Tuberculosis testing is for a lab technician to
analyse the sputum sample with a microscope. They make a slide
of the sample and look for the bacteria found in Tuberculosis.
As you can imagine, thoroughly and correctly analyzing the samples
is a long process. This is why the World Health Organization
suggests a lab technician should only be able to screen a maximum of
40 samples a day, in order to screen each sample properly. But
there is a high rate of error in this method; this is where our HeroRATS enter
the picture and act as a second check of the samples.
Four rats test every sample that comes into our laboratory
to insure the utmost reliability in detection. If one out of the
four rats indicates that a negative sputum sample contains TB, then
an APOPO lab technician double-checks the sample (via microscopy as
in the hospitals) to confirm the diagnosis. The rats are usually
right, and because they are right, 344 people this year will be able
to get treatment and live longer, healthier lives. (To see the
rats at work detecting TB in sputum samples, we invite you to check
out our video on the website here).
The
detection of those 344 people affects far more than the 344 people
that have TB. TB is an airborne disease that is spread when an
infected person coughs, sneezes or spits near another person.
Therefore it is a very contagious and rapidly spreading disease,
especially in densely populated areas with poor ventilation. A
person with an active, untreated case of TB can infect 15 people
every single year! As more and more people go undetected, the
problem grows exponentially as unknowing people infect others.
However, if people with TB know that they are infected, they can
begin treatment and cease to be contagious. In the next year alone,
5,160 people have been protected from developing TB because the
HeroRATS have detected 344 TB positive people! This rate of
transmission makes the 344 additional people that were detected a
huge accomplishment, and we continue to detect missed individuals,
with 41 new patients detected in January alone!
Training rats to find land mines and detect TB is a great
responsibility. Mistakes can cost lives. The land mines and TB rats
are saving lives everyday because they are good and
reliable. To train them takes time and requires not only a great
deal of patience, but also a great deal of knowledge, skill, and
experience.
Rat trainers are certified after following an
intensive course and passing theoretical exams and a practical test
where they have to show that they can train a rat to show a specific
behavior.
We are constantly improving the skills of the
rats. We train them every single day, record all training sessions,
and analyze the data. Monitoring the training of the rats is
important. We need to be able to trust the rats and to do that we
need to know that they are reliable. We perform reliability tests
constantly to keep up with the high standards we have set ourselves.
Monitoring all training also gives us the possibility to detect
errors early on and correct them and whenever necessary we change a
training procedure.
The rats need to be well trained, but so
do the trainers. No matter how skilled the rats might be, in the end
they will be only as good as we train them and no better. Therefore,
trainers also need to be well trained and that’s exactly what I’m
presently doing.
The Apopo Handbook for Trainers is taking
shape. It will be the curriculum for all trainers as of April 2009,
with its around 300 pages, including sections on evolution and
ethology (behavior), learning theory, measuring behavior, animal
welfare, anatomy and physiology, first aid for animals, olfaction,
and the behavior of the Giant Gambian Pouched Rat, besides all the
SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), and an extensive glossary. All
the subject matters are highly relevant for the trainers who need to
understand the behavior of the animals and their learning
capabilities, so they can plan appropriate training
sessions.
My objective writing this handbook is not only to
provide the students with an extensive and updated textbook, but
also to make it interesting and somehow interactive for them to go
through the stuff. Each chapter ends with a knowledge review where
the students can test themselves. The whole handbook is recorded on
DVD with each chapter being a lecture. To watch the DVD is like
following a class.
This handbook will help us to train even
better trainers who can train even better rats. Only the rats will
be able to tell us if the training is successful, not in words, but
in their silent language, their behavior.
Meet a Mine Detection
Rat Handler in Mozambique: Zacharia from Mozambique
Alberto Jorge Zacharia, 31, is a mine
detection rat handler currently working with APOPO in the Inhambane
Province of Mozambique. Zacharia is a native of Mozambique and is
originally from a rural village in the Inhambane Province of
Mozambique that was greatly affected by the 26-year civil war. He
completed primary school in his hometown, but went on to study at
Cambridge Secondary Education in Zimbabwe during the years of the
civil war, and then received a diploma through the British College
of Professional Management in Business Management and
Administration. Zacharia is now married and has moved back to his
hometown with his wife, Sandra, and his two small children, Julie
and Jim.
Landmines exacerbated the post-war devastation to
Mozambique and especially affected many young people, including
Zacharia, who were unable to find work. Zacharia saw the incredible
need for mass de-mining of his country to release land for
development and decided to join the de-mining force to strengthen
the country and support his family.
From 1997 to 2006,
Zacharia worked for the NPA (Norwegians People Aid) as a dog trainer
for landmine detection in Mozambique. During the first months of
Zacharia’s work with animal detectors, Zacharia was unsure about
animal detectors, but after working with dogs in the minefield, he
realized how beneficial a low-technology solution could be. When NPA
closed its operations in Mozambique in 2006, Zacharia was intrigued
by the idea of working with rats as mine detection agents and began
working at APOPO in 2006 as a rat handler.
Alberto was
particularly interested in APOPO and rats as mine detectors because
the concept offered a new understanding of rats. Rats in Africa are
usually associated with destruction of food supply, but with APOPO,
an indigenous nuisance has become a useful tool for society. He
loves that APOPO has found a way to leverage the area’s natural
resources to help solve a huge problem. Zacharia enjoys working with
the rats and other animals and loves to research any animal related
topic or de-mining topic for fun.
APOPO's staff and HeroRATS are working hard to save lives and
limbs from disaster and disease. Please help us eradicate the
dangers posed by landmines and curb the spread of Tuberculosis by
making a donation or by adopting a HeroRAT. For information about
tax deductible giving, click here. You can make an online donation
through PayPal here:
first screening test for Tuberculosis
(meaning people will come to the rats first), we currently offer 4
hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania a second analysis of the sputum
samples they have already screened. 
airborne disease that is spread when an
infected person coughs, sneezes or spits near another person.
Therefore it is a very contagious and rapidly spreading disease,
especially in densely populated areas with poor ventilation. A
person with an active, untreated case of TB can infect 15 people
every single year! As more and more people go undetected, the
problem grows exponentially as unknowing people infect others.
However, if people with TB know that they are infected, they can
begin treatment and cease to be contagious. In the next year alone,
5,160 people have been protected from developing TB because the
HeroRATS have detected 344 TB positive people! This rate of
transmission makes the 344 additional people that were detected a
huge accomplishment, and we continue to detect missed individuals,
with 41 new patients detected in January alone! 
Alberto Jorge Zacharia, 31, is a mine
detection rat handler currently working with APOPO in the Inhambane
Province of Mozambique. Zacharia is a native of Mozambique and is
originally from a rural village in the Inhambane Province of
Mozambique that was greatly affected by the 26-year civil war. He
completed primary school in his hometown, but went on to study at
Cambridge Secondary Education in Zimbabwe during the years of the
civil war, and then received a diploma through the British College
of Professional Management in Business Management and
Administration. Zacharia is now married and has moved back to his
hometown with his wife, Sandra, and his two small children, Julie
and Jim.