It's hard to recall a more turbulent period on the international news front.

Wars in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, the global ebola virus, impending famine in South Sudan, the list goes on.

This month, 30 years after the BBC broadcast its landmark report that described the "biblical famine" then gripping Ethiopia, it's worth pausing to ask ourselves whether media reporting of today's conflicts and disasters has the same effect on the public.

Back in 1984 the powerful shots of cameraman Mohammed Amin, together with reporter Michael Buerk's emotive words, galvanised the public, spurred the UK Government into action and prompted the creation of the Live Aid concert.

Watching today's plight of Syrian refugees or those in Sierra Leone's communities blighted by ebola do we feel the same urge to respond?

Tomorrow, this pressing question and its implications will be addressed at an event at the London-based Frontline Club and organised by the Overseas Development Institute.

Entitled Conflict and Disaster Reporting: Does the Public Still Care? journalists and aid workers will come together before a public audience. Among other things, participants will examine how humanitarian agencies can work with the media to raise awareness and much-needed funds.

Personally, I remain convinced that the public does indeed continue to care. That much is regularly borne out by both the generosity and concern expressed by readers whenever I write pieces from such regions whether the stories be part of an aid appeal or not.

Time and again I'm impressed and touched not only by the public response to emergency humanitarian crises, but the overall identification many people in Scotland have with the plight of their fellow citizens across the developing world. A point in case is the recent findings of a public awareness study by The Scotland Malawi Partnership.

Never a big fan of statistics, the survey figures I feel nevertheless speak volumes about the extraordinary level of public awareness, engagement and support in Scotland for the people-to-people links with Malawi.

Some 46 per cent of Scots personally know someone involved in a Scotland-Malawi link. Some 300,000 Scots benefit from their connections with the East African country, while up to two million Malawians benefit from their links with Scotland. There isn't the space here to provide details behind these figures but the full survey online explains in-depth how this remarkable position was achieved.

Admittedly, Scotland has long and deeply rooted historical links with Malawi, but this alone doesn't account for the current vigour of the ongoing relationship.

By far the most simple explanation is that here in Scotland and across the UK, ordinary people remain moved, concerned and motivated to help when their fellow global citizens face hardship and suffering. In this post-referendum period, Scotland continues to look to its future place in the world and rightly so. Long may this continue. Right now we live in a world with no shortage of need for such values.