APOPO UK
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Mission Statement
The relief of sickness and preservation of health and the advancement of environmental protection mainly, though not exclusively, by making grants or other funding in respect of projects involving scent detection animals that protect people and the planet in particular to benefit lower income and vulnerable communities.
About This Cause
APOPO UK was founded in response to the high level of interest from the UK general public, businesses and other organisations in the deployment of animal scent detection techniques for social good. APOPO UK ’s primary aim is to enable assistance through animal scent detection to address social challenges and raise awareness of the issues faced in our identified area of operation. Most notably we are funding animal scent detection techniques for land mine detection, human disease detection, and other proven or promising areas of innovation that directly benefit lower income communities. Working in harmony with animals is proving highly effective to help solve social challenges in developing countries around the world. To achieve our goal of helping to make lives healthier, safer and land more accessible post-conflict in rural or marginalised areas around the globe we have chosen to work closely with a well established and credible international partner who is highly respected in the mine detection and TB detection arena - APOPO vzw - (www.apopo.org) an award winning reputable international charity with over 25 years experience in the animal scent detection field. Their talented international team are carrying out some amazing and inspiring work employing HeroDOGs and HeroRATs. Landmines Clearing landmines and other explosive devices is at the heart of what APOPO Mine Action does to protect people and their livelihoods from weapons that have little to do with them. Because this is intense work and can take time, APOPO educates vulnerable communities about the risks of explosives to keep them safe until we can clear the minefields. And, where possible, APOPO continues to provide victims with assistance. APOPO uses innovative solutions that integrate detection animals into traditional methods that allow us to clear landmines and other explosives more efficiently. Its training centre and Head Office is located in Tanzania. In 2023, APOPO continued clearing landmines and other explosives in Cambodia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Senegal, South Sudan, Mozambique, Ukraine and Turkey and there are ongoing plans to widen this reach to other affected countries around the world. APOPO’s animals ignore scrap metal and only detect the scent of explosives. This makes mine detection rats much faster at finding landmines than humans with metal detectors. Using technical survey dogs beforehand, to confirm the presence of landmines or other explosives creates an accurate picture of which areas are contaminated. Results show, that by integrating both these detection animals, the overall efficiency of the landmine clearance process can be doubled on some tasks and even tripled on others, compared to using conventional methods alone. HeroRATs are too light to set off landmines and no animal has been killed or injured during this work. Tuberculosis APOPO’s programs work within government health systems to support over 160 partner clinics across Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Tanzania in their fight against TB. According to the WHO, about one in three TB patients in these countries are ‘missed’. Some remain untested or unreported because of socio-economic barriers that prevent them from accessing healthcare. Even when they can overcome these barriers, there are limitations to existing diagnostic tools at clinics, resulting in over 4 million people globally remaining undiagnosed and without treatment last year. Over the years, African giant pouched rats - Cricetomys ansorgei - identify TB by smell and the animals have demonstrated their ability to detect TB from sputum. In 2023 APOPO tested 359,352 samples from 59,877 individuals, identifying 3,300 new TB cases. Innovation In 2023 innovation remained at the heart of APOPO's international work, spearheaded by a dedicated Innovation Department. The team continue to expand this groundbreaking work, hosting significant events and making notable advancements in research and field applications. The initiative focusses/has previously focussed on driving change, wildlife detection, brucellosis detection, soil pollutant detection and in search and rescue. Training HeroRATs are trained in APOPO’s training centre in Tanzania. Animal health and well being Animal Health is top priority for everyone at APOPO and everything is done to ensure that the animals are cared for and treated like the heroes they are both during their active working life and throughout their retirement. Cambodian Visitor Centre APOPO's popular visitor centre in Siem Reap welcomed over 33,000 visitors in 2023. Many of those visitors go on to become loyal supporters of APOPO UK and/or the international organisation APOPO vzw through animal adoptions. HeroTREEs In 2023 APOPO's HeroTREEs program expanded into a multifaceted tree planting initiative with the goal of making APOPO climate-positive while also supporting livelihoods and restoring biodiversity. Currently APOPO has over 44,000 trees growing and is protecting many more. APOPO UK has a partnership agreement in place with APOPO vzw and is the official representative in the UK for APOPO. Working under the UK's strict governance code APOPO UK is well managed by its Board of Trustees and key volunteers. Funds donated to/raised via APOPO UK are passed over as grants to our international partner either as restricted (to specific project) to comply with a donors wishes or as unrestricted gifts. No donor data is shared with an international partner unless we have permission to do so. APOPO UK is registered for gift aid reclaim via HMRC. Details about APOPO UK's registration can be found on the Charity Commission (England & Wales) or on our identity web page www.apopo.uk.