Traditional veterinary medical plants, online
The database Traditional veterinary medical plants in sub-Saharan Africa contains information on thousands of plants used for treating animals in rural areas in different regions of Africa. Each listing includes, among other things, the plant’s botanical name, the African countries where the plant is used for veterinary purposes, and the animal diseases it is used for. The database is intended for researchers, veterinarians, and educators. It gathers together information from various sources and presents it in a compact, accessible way. The information stored in the database is derived from scientific articles, books, conference reports, and reports specifically addressed to the PRELUDE sub-network ‘Health, animal production, and environment’. The database is constantly being expanded.
An earlier version of this database has been published (Baerts, Martine, Jean Lehmann, Michel Ansay and Kakule Kasonia (1996) A few medicinal plants used in traditional veterinary medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: a data bank; see IK&DM 5(2)). Now, the full database is available via the Internet. It can be found on the PRELUDE homepage on the World Wide Web. Consulting the database requires a modern browser (at least Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0). It can be accessed in two languages: French and English. To search the database, one can use a set of keywords and symbols to enter either the name of a plant or the name of a disease.
The PRELUDE homepage is at: http://pc4.sisc.ucl.ac.be/prelude.html

The homepage offers:
- introduction, and information about the PRELUDE sub-network;
- online journal: N’Dama: the sub-network newspaper, with network news and articles about local knowledge and veterinary medicine in Africa;
- access to the database ‘Traditional veterinary medical plants in Sub-Saharan Africa’.

For more information, please contact:
Jean Lehmann, Laboratoire de botanique médicale de l’Université de Louvain, Institut Carnoy, 4 place Croix du Sud, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Tel.: +32-10-473 421 or 309.
Fax: +32-10-473 471.
E-mail: lehmann@fynu.ucl.be

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