In presenting the Annual Report on Food Crises, the United Nations has declared ten countries among the worst hit by the disaster: Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Nigeria and Haiti. One notable case is that last year 61 per cent of the population of South Sudan were starving.

David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme, began the presentation of the annual report with these words: "Forgive me if I speak so crudely. But I can't behave so crudely if I say that the world is before me in World War II. The most serious humanitarian crisis we have seen since the World War." In fact, if, since last year, the lives of millions of people "hung from a thread", in many parts of East Africa and South Asia, by the crises caused by the scourges of droughts and locust long years, in the coming months there could be situations of "biblical hunger" [famines of biblical proportions, he said textually] caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Beasley wanted to leave some hope in his note: "I am convinced that with our experience and collaboration we can organize among all the necessary teams and programs so that the Covid-19 pandemic does not become a food and humanitarian crisis catastrophe."