The traditional healers are a source ofhealth care for which Africans have always paid. Even withthe expansion of modern medicine, healers are still popularand command fees exceeding the average treatment cost atmost modern practitioners. Are traditional healers miracleworkers or are they charlatans? Clearly either view is tooextreme. Traditional healers are not perfect. Nor, however,can they be charlatans. This article advances a view oftraditional healers that relies on neither supernaturalpower nor manifest ignorance. It suggests that healersremain popular despite abundant modern medicine because theyhave wisely used an important economic contract to themutual benefit of their practice and the population theyserve. While the contrasts between traditional medicine andmodern medicine are many, the article focuses on thedifferences in the way traditional and modern healers arepaid. An important element of their practice has beenpreviously ignored: traditional healers receive the bulk oftheir payment only if the patient is cured.
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