Problem
Compassion fatigue
Other Names:
Increasing resistance to charitable givingFluctuating response to appeals for aid
Public disillusionment with compassionate aid
Nature:
Appeals for donations to help people in a crisis may initially meet with large responses but repeated frequent appeals may soon result in little or no response. Charities know that extraordinary success of one appeal is unlikely to be repeated by a similar one. Images of famine or flood victims become too familiar and people become inured. "Compassion fatigue" can sap public sympathy. Causes become fashionable and unfashionable. Long term relief projects are in danger of becoming out of favour with the public and thereby may be terminated prematurely. Broader Problems:
IndifferenceDisillusionment Narrower Problems:
Refugee fatigue Related Problems:
Unexpressed social compassionIndividualistic welfare responsibility Aggravates:
Decline of philanthropyIntermittent media coverage of disastersInadequate funding of international NGOsInadequate national empathy for external hardshipReallocation of aid funds to alternative prioritiesShortage of financial resources for action against problems Reduces:
Emotional manipulation Strategies:
BeggingOvercoming indifferenceAssessing development assistanceProviding emergency humanitarian aidProviding humanitarian aid to women and childrenProviding aid to natural disaster victimsProviding aid to man-made disaster victimsSeeking necessary financial assistanceResisting charitable givingUndermining resistance to charitable givingContributing to charities Subject(s):
Health Care → Care??Government → Public??
Law → Arbitration??
Development → Aid??
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems Date of last update
01.01.2000 – 00:00 CET