THE fall out from the Haiti scandal which has engulfed the Oxfam charity has been rumbling on in recent days.

Earlier this week Oxfam released the results of an internal inquiry into sexual misconduct by staff after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which has resulted in employees being sacked and others resigning.

And yesterday the charity's boss Mark Goldring said 26 claims of sexual misconduct had been made since the news broke.

Firstly, of course, the victims should be at the forefront of everyones minds.

A foreign aid agency is meant to be in a crisis situation to help vulnerable people, so allegations of staff using prostitutes is upsetting to hear about.

Everything must be done to ensure that doesn't happen again.

But I also feel sympathy for those excellent charity workers whose good name is now being damaged by the actions of others.

There is the wider impact to consider here.

Previously studies have found British people to be among the most charitable in the world.

Sports Relief, Comic Relief and Children in Need always break their fundraising totals, and each year millions go to charities helping people in desperate need at home and abroad.

That 7,000 people have stopped making regular monthly donations to Oxfam since the scandal first broke is not surprising, but I fear there will be a wider impact on the charity sector as a whole.

If the British public does not have confidence in charities, that lack of trust will result in fewer donations. And the danger is if those excellent volunteers can not continue to carry out their good work because of a lack of cash, ultimately millions of lives will not be saved in the future.

Poor and undernourished people in countries all over the developing world are going to continue to need essential aid, regardless of what is happening elsewhere.

A backlash against charities does not just have an impact against an organisation, it has a major impact on the vulnerable people abroad that we need to help after an earthquake, famine or tsunami.

Charities need to always ensure their house is in order - but we also must ensure they don't lose that vital public support either.