MILAN (AP) — The cities of Baltimore and Mexico City are being praised for their contributions to combating hunger.

The prizes were awarded Friday at the Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome, where World Food Day events focused on the U.N. goal of reaching zero hunger by 2020.

The city of Milan and the Cariplo Foundation honored Baltimore for its multi-agency food policy initiative to get healthy food to so-called "food deserts" in inner cities. They praised Mexico City for its community dining room program.

Cariplo president Giusppe Guzzetti said such projects address not only the issue of getting food to the hungry, but also the sustainability of such initiatives. Addressing the issue of hunger, he said, requires also examining "how we live in our cities. How can we create better conditions?"