Mexico City, Mexico – The federal government plans to launch a new program to fight hunger next month, with the initial focus On 400 cities, Mexican Social Development Secretary Rosario Robles said.

"This is a titanic task and an enormous challenge," Robles told reporters at the unveiling of the National Crusade against Hunger. The program is one of the most ambitious launched by President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office on Dec. 1 and has made fighting hunger and social inequality a priority.

Mexico, a country of 112 million people, registered 11,000 deaths from malnutrition in 2011, government figures show. A total of 8,000 of these deaths were caused by lack of access to basic foods and the rest to other hunger-related problems.

Officials have identified 400 cities, or 16 percent of the municipalities in the country, for the launch of the program. All of the cities selected for the program have high levels of hunger and extreme poverty, Robles said.

The National Crusade against Hunger will target 7.4 million people in these cities in the first phase, Robles said.