Mission: Protect people and the planet with innovative solutions using trained rats and other scent detection animals. Landmines not only cause tragic accidents, they are a barrier to development, constraining communities and denying access to fertile land, travel routes and basic needs. APOPO’s HeroRATs and HeroDOGs perform complimentary roles making them the perfect 'tool' for speeding up detection and clearance. Tuberculosis is the biggest global killer from an infectious disease after COVID-19. There were approximately 10.6 million new global cases of tuberculosis per year and around 1.3 million people died from the disease in 2022. In most sub-Saharan African countries only about half of the patients with active tuberculosis are diagnosed. APOPO researches TB detection rats as a “failsafe” - examining clinic-tested human sputum samples delivered from partner clinics in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Any rat-suspect samples are rechecked using internationally recognized methods and if TB is confirmed, APOPO notifies the clinic. Our research indicates that APOPO is improving clinic detection rates by 40%. Fighting the illegal wildlife trade: In the past, African giant pouched rats have learned to detect explosives and the tuberculosis-causing pathogen. Now, a team of researchers have trained these rats to pick up the scent of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, rhino horn, and African blackwood. These animals and plants are listed as threatened and at high danger of extinction.