Actor Sean Penn has spoken out during his visit to earthquake-ravaged Haiti about the "suffering" he has witnessed first-hand.

The star flew to the country on Thursday with former U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards to hand out food and supplies to the survivors of last week's disaster.

As part of his visit, Penn has been on a tour of the nation with 11 doctors, visiting a medical clinic, a food distribution site and handing out 1,000 water filters he brought with him from America.

He says, "It is a devastated area. I've seen the same thing your cameras have seen. People are suffering and a lot of people are doing their best - the U.S. military and human aid groups - to help them. The idea of us being here is to make sure the aid gets to them."

Penn has become known for using his resources to help those in need after disasters - he visited New Orleans, Louisiana a week after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 and helped rescue people stranded by floods.

And he's not the only star helping aid efforts in the country - George Clooney gathered pals including Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Bono to take part in his charity telethon on Friday night.