APOPO's HeroRATS will be visiting TV screens in France and Germany with a repeat showing of the ARTE documentary of their lives and work to make the world a safer place in Mozambique.  

See them in action on:

• March 3, 2010 at 12:00 PM
• March 8, 2010 at 5:10 PM
• It will also be available online on your PC here from March 3-15

Surprise your friends and family with a HeroRAT for the Holidays!
Looking for a great alternative gift this holiday season?  Here are the top five reasons to adopt a HeroRAT for your friends and family:

This Sunday November 1st, on SBS Dateline Australia, “A Rat’s Tale” with reporter Ginny Stein, aired on Australian Television.  This short film (only 15 minutes) covers our HeroRATs work!  For great scenes of our trainers and the Heroes themselves, check it out for yourself!

APOPO granted HIV clearance to study relationship with TB

Dear Friend,

I need your help today to vote for the HeroRATs in Google’s Project 10 to the 100 by October 8th and help us win Google’s Race to Save the World together!

Exciting news: out of 154,000 organizations Google has selected APOPO’s HeroRATs as one of only 67 finalists in their 10100 Project to save the world! We need your vote to win this competition. Please VOTE TODAY for landmine removal and HeroRAT could win millions in support!

APOPO has recently completed clearance of a small minefield at Pfukwe in the district of Mabalane. This was a high priority task, necessary for EDM, the National Electricity Company, to start work connecting the town of Mabalane into the National Grid. The presence of the minefield was causing a significant hazard to the workers and preventing the work from taking place.
 

APOPO is excited to announce the arrival of psychopharmacologist and behavior analyst Alan Poling of Western Michigan University.  Professor Poling has published 11 books and more than 250 articles.  His work has appeared in 40 different professional journals.  He will be working with the APOPO team over the next year to increase our research capacity and to further streamline our training processes.  We are happy to have him and look forward to his important contributions!

APOPO's Founder, Bart Weetjens, was the featured columnist in last week's Global Health Magazine's Guest Blog segment:  Training African giant pouched rats to detect pulmonary tuberculosis may sound like an extra-ordinary idea. In reality, it is a novel and alternative tool to enhance case detection in resource limited settings, at higher speed, smaller cost, and lower levels of skills in the operators.

Speaking at the launch of National Science Week 2009 at Galeshewe Stadium in Kimberley inthe Northern Cape, Science and Technology minister Naledi Pandor has praised the role of the African Giant Pouched Rat in fighting the scourge of landmines. She said, “It’s hoped that the HeroRATs will be able to save us from these destructive objects much faster than would otherwise have been the case." To read the full article, click here.  

Bart Weetjens, the founder of APOPO, attended the World Economic Forum on Africa from June 10th to the 12th. The theme for the 2009 conference is "Implications of the Global Economic Crisis for Africa;” the conference is hosted in Cape Town, South Africa.