Eyewitness - Patrick at the G8

Eyewitness: Patrick at the G8

 World Vision’s head of Public Affairs and Campaigns, Patrick Watt, is in Italy for the G8

Friday morning
Today's a big one for us as a development organisation working throughout Africa, as the leaders are meeting to talk about aid and food security.

We heard a lot yesterday about what to expect from today's announcement on food, and we're worried that it will be another example of the smoke-and-mirrors approach we've seen already this week.

What we need to see is a real, serious commitment of new money designed to tackle the causes of the food crisis that means about one billion people around the world are hungry today.

Hunger and malnutrition are an underlying cause of more than three million child deaths every year. That statistic is scandalous, and is the reason we're here at the G8.

As World Vision prepares to launch our Child Health campaign later this year, promises like those made – and broken – here at the G8, are more important than ever.

As the summit wraps up today, we'll start our journey back to the UK to continue to seek some justice for children and families living in the world's poorest countries.