APOPO was founded in response to growing awareness that landmines kill and maim people and hamper development in post-conflict areas. Methods to rid affected countries of landmines were slow so a small team in Belgium founded APOPO to develop a fast, simple, and cost-efficient mine clearance technology that could be sustained within national mine action programs in low-income countries. APOPO developed a unique method using trained rats. Over 20 years later, APOPO is a global leader in scent detection animals, including both trained rats (HeroRats), and the first-ever free running, long-range Mine Detection Dogs (HeroDogs).

As a research organization, APOPO is always at the forefront of developing new humanitarian and environmental scent detection applications. Our core operational activities are in the fields of mine action and tuberculosis (TB) control. 

The main training and research center is based at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. APOPO has Mine Action operations in Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Mozambique; and TB-research laboratories in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ethiopia where trained rats work in combination with confirmatory technology to stop TB. APOPO is supported by a large international network of diverse partners and donors as well as the general public, and has foundations in Switzerland, the United States, and is in the process of setting up a U.K. charity.