A witch doctor often refers to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine. The witch doctors in Africa are known as Sangomas in southern Africa. The term "Witch Doctor" is considered by some to be a  derogatory term used by early colonialists to undermine African culture; however, here it is used in honor of the indigenous healers in Africa. The correct English term for Sangomas is Traditional Healer. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the first use of the term "witch doctor" to refer to African shamans (i.e. medicine men) was in 1836 in a book by Robert Montgomery Martin (1803?-1868).

A Sangoma is essentially an African Shaman who is a practitioner of herbal medicine, divination, and counseling in traditional Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi) societies of Southern Africa. The healing philosophy is based on a belief in ancestral spirits. Both men and women can be called by the ancestors, though there are more female sangomas than males. If one refuses to answer the ancestral calling, i.e. refuses to become a traditional healer, they are said to suffer ongoing physical and mental illness.  A trainee sangoma (or twaza) trains under another sangoma, usually for a period of years, usually performing humbling service in the community.

At times in the training, and for the graduation, a ritual sacrifice of an animal is performed (usually a chicken, a goat or a cow). The spilling of this blood is meant to seal the bond between the ancestors and the sangoma.

This African witchdoctor doll was inspired by and created for the great African traditional healers. 

These Witchdoctor dolls measure approximately 12 inches. They have a full feather head dress and wear a witchdoctor's mask and a hand beaded peyote stitch collar necklace modeled after an authentic traditional African healer