As the G8 world leaders took steps to combat hunger yesterday, their wives got a taste of how a UN humanitarian agency feeds the poor.

As the G8 world leaders took steps to combat hunger yesterday, their wives got a taste of how a UN humanitarian agency feeds the poor.

First ladies attending a meeting on world hunger at the World Food Programme crowded around a pot of porridge.

Guided through tents hosting simulations of emergency aid operations set up at the agency's Rome headquarters, they learned about food distribution as they walked by bags of maize, sugar, salt and rice. They were also greeted by four children from northern Ghana who sang and performed traditional dances and gave short accounts of the benefits of school feeding - an initiative by the agency to provide daily meals, snacks or take-home rations in schools.

The meeting also touched on mothers' and children's health.

Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown said keeping mothers healthy is also key to their children's future.

"If a mother is lost in birth the newborn is 10 times more likely to die," Mrs Brown told the gathering.

Meanwhile Carla Bruni, the Italian-born wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, went on a tour of quake-devastated L'Aquila, where she made a personal donation of £40,000 to a hospital treating survivors.

She also said France will pay for half the cost of repairing the dome of the Santa Maria del Suffragio church on the historic town square.