Dealing with aid worker burnout  What can aid organisations do
to prevent compassion fatigue and minimise the risk of workers
suffering burnout? Excessive workloads Excessive workloads can
cause aid workers to become disillusioned or traumatised.
Photograph: Photograph: Alamy  Humanitarian assistance is
popular work, with the number of field staff on the rise. But
the chances of aid workers suffering from stress-related burnout
or compassion fatigue are also high due to the potential dangers
they face.  Violence, kidnapping, car-jacking, assault, and even
death – the risks facing humanitarian aid workers are plentiful.
Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for
internaitonal co-operation, humanitarian aid and crisis
response, described humanitarian aid as "one of the world's most
dangerous professions".  So what can aid organisations do to
minimise the risk of workers suffering burnout?  "Field
conditions are difficult and it's difficult to take practical
steps," says Claire Davies, travel health cli