For the past 3 years, the Healers' Medicine Centre of the Institute of Scientific Research has been studying the healers of Zaire. This report covers both the real knowledge and the present situation of traditional medicine in Zaire and suggestions for reorienting the health policy with respect to healers. The report is based on studies of the patients and practitioners of traditional medicine in Zaire, portraying the different trends in the rural sector, towns, and the capital city. Different categories of healers were studied in proportion to the importance accorded them by the local people in each area. Criteria for classifying healers and examples of how the classification worked are also included.