The Contribution of Spiritual, Religious, and Customary Heritage to the Personalization of Modern Oncology in Multiethnic Societies of Developing Countries

Abstract

Just a few decades ago, death was considered and accepted as an expected part of human existence: people were dying of old age and/or severe illness. The new age has brought a new concept: to delay aging and dying for as long as possible. Most of the once-incurable, life-threatening diseases, which include malignancies, have today become chronic diseases and their poor prognoses—terminal condition and fatal outcome—are difficult or impossible for a large part of the population to accept. A holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the cancer patient has become increasingly complex due to the application of personalized medicine: the right medicine, for the right patient, at the right time. Surgery, oncological radiology, and medical oncology are on this path and are combined with modern diagnostics, especially genetics, but also with new domains: ethical, legislative, sociological, economic, customary, and spiritual. Success in determining the genetic map of humans has brought about emotional, psychological, cultural, and religious dilemmas. Spirituality is ubiquitous in sufferers of all nations, races, ages, and, regardless of different religious formats, it sets a need, almost an imperative, to create spiritual care teams (SCTs,). Developing countries have largely overcome the low-level state of enlightenment of certain communities which, even today, perceive cancer as God’s will, punishment, or destiny. On the other hand, their transition in some countries takes a very long time. They have not yet reached the level of a developed consumer society, and some have fallen into the trap of class stratification, corruption, and discrimination. Comprehensive, targeted individualization for each oncology patient is crucial to the final outcome of the malignant disease.