Space of Religious Convergence – PECR018/FSG

For millennia, in all human populations, the history of Medicine has always in some ways been linked with religion, due to factors related to practice, affiliation, beliefs and heath, both physical and mental. This association has historical-cultural roots, as an example, the indigenous population believed that the Gods had the power to cause illness and to cure them.

People usually seek more than a physical cure in medicine. They seek as well empathy, understanding and emotional relief. By acknowledging that most patients practices some kind of religion and has a spiritual lifestyle, this dimension can be explored, understood and possible used to promote the emotional well being of the patient.

It’s for this reason that the Sérgio Gago Foundation developed the Project Space of Religious Convergence that consists in the construction of a secular space for cults, prayers and edification of faith in the grounds of Maputo’s Central Hospital so that different religious congregations can perform their prayers not only for the patients that are suffering from different diseases but also for the health professionals that each day give the most of themselves to save lives.

Understanding that faith and religion bring comfort to anyone facing an illness, different scientific studies prove that the power of forgiveness, resilience, the ability to overcome and to have faith, which are qualities very much nurtured in religion, act on the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems.

This promotes the decrease of the release of adrenaline and cortisol, which is beneficial because it protects the individual against infections and several other diseases related to stress, like as an example high blood pressure.