UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 (IPS) - The United Nations says that international aid work is one of the world's most hazardous professions, in which humanitarian workers are constantly threatened with -- or victims of -- kidnappings, harassment, detention and deadly violence.

A U.N. study, currently before the 192-member General Assembly, points out that hundreds of aid workers and U.N. humanitarian personnel continue to face risks in some of the world's major trouble spots, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Israel and Haiti.

"By any measure," says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "international aid work is a dangerous profession."

A comparison of on-the-job death rates in the top 10 most hazardous civilian occupations would place aid workers at number five after loggers (92.4 per 100,000 workers), pilots (92.4), fishermen (86.4) and structural iron and steel workers (47.0), according to the U.S. Department of Labour.

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It was over 30°C, the sun was burning down on my exposed flesh, and I was sitting in a hole full of muddy water. Another student and I were testing a small-scale hydropower turbine and generator in Sri Lanka, hoping to determine why system conversion efficiency was an abysmally low 15 percent. This summer was my second spent in a “developing” country, and the experience taught me several lessons.

I got into international development while at MIT through Amy Smith’s D-Lab class (SP.721) during my sophomore year. It was something I thought I could feel good about doing, through which I could sidestep the evils of the capitalist rat race and help “save the world.” It sounded so good: simple technologies, like hand-driven water pumps, paper brick presses, and biogas generators, could vastly improve the lives of millions who lack the opulent lifestyle most of us enjoy here in the United States.