Humanitarian workers bring aid to countries in crisis stemming from natural disasters, war, or any other events that leave civilians without resources. The job is taxing both physically and mentally.
An October 2018 report reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh found that "humanitarian workers in South Sudan experience substantial levels of mental ill-health" as workers experience "chronic stress exposure" on the job.
Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health published a study in 2012 that found humanitarian workers experience more anxiety and depression after starting their jobs. Of the 212 workers surveyed at 19 NGOs, just 3.8% of workers reported anxiety pre-deployment and 11.8% reported anxiety post-deployment. As for depression, 10.4% of workers reported experiencing symptoms of depression pre-deployment and 19.4% reported symptoms of depression post-deployment.